Casey R. Luskin

Casey Luskin (born February 9, 1978) is an American scientist and an attorney with graduate degrees in science and law. He holds a PhD in Geology from the University of Johannesburg where his thesis focused on paleomagnetism and the early plate tectonic history of South Africa (”Paleomagnetism of the Nsuze Group of the Pongola Supergroup and Related Igneous Units: Implications for Mesoarchean Paleogeography of the Kaapvaal Craton, Southern Africa“). His B.S. and M.S. degrees in Earth Sciences are from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He earned a law degree from the University of San Diego and has been a California-licensed attorney since 2005, practicing primarily in the area of evolution-education in public schools and defending academic freedom for scientists who face discrimination because of their support for intelligent design (ID).

In his role at Discovery Institute, Dr. Luskin works as Associate Director of the Center for Science and Culture, where he helps direct the ID 3.0 Research Program, and assists and defends scientists, educators, and students who seek to study, research, and teach about the scientific debate over Darwinian evolution and ID. 

While studying at UCSD, Luskin founded the first Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness (IDEA) Club in 1999 to provide a forum for students to investigate the debate over intelligent design. In 2001, this led to the founding of the Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness (IDEA) Center, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization helping students to start “IDEA Clubs” on college and high school campuses elsewhere. Casey and the IDEA Club movement he co-founded were featured in the April 27, 2005 cover story of the journal Nature. 

Dr. Luskin has lectured widely on ID at university campuses and conferences on four continents, and has coauthored or contributed to multiple books. In 2006, he coauthored Traipsing Into Evolution: Intelligent Design and the Kitzmiller v. Dover Decision, a detailed critique of the first court ruling to assess the constitutionality of teaching ID in public schools. In 2012, he coauthored Science and Human Origins, reviewing fossil and genetic evidence which challenges human/ape common ancestry. He is coauthor of Discovering Intelligent Design, the first comprehensive introductory intelligent design curriculum, published in 2013. He co-edited with William Dembski and Joseph Holden The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith: Exploring the Ultimate Questions About Life and the Cosmos, which won an honorable mention in World magazine’s 2021 “accessible science” book of the year awards. Luskin has also contributed to the volumes Intelligent Design 101: Leading Experts Explain the Key Issues; Theistic Evolution: A Scientific, Theological, and Philosophical Critique (Crossway, 2017); The Praeger Handbook of Religion and Education in the United States; Dictionary of Christianity and Science (Zondervan, 2017); Signature of Controversy; The Unofficial Guide to Cosmos; Debating Darwin’s Doubt; More than Myth; and the award-winning God and Evolution. 

Dr. Luskin has published in both technical law and science journals, including Journal of Church and State; Montana Law Review; Geochemistry, Geophysics, and Geosystems; South African Journal of Geology; Hamline Law Review; Liberty University Law Review; Trinity Law Review; University of St. Thomas Journal of Law & Public Policy; and Progress in Complexity, Information, and Design. He also contributed to the volumes The Archaean Geology of the Kaapvaal Craton, Southern Africa (Springer Nature, 2019) and Ancient Supercontinents and the Paleogeography of Earth (Elsevier, 2021).

A senior editor at Salvo Magazine, Luskin has published in a variety of print and online popular media. He has commented on the debate over evolution in hundreds of radio, TV, and other media sources, including the NY Times, LA Times, Nature, Science, U.S. News & World Report, Washington D.C. Examiner, Human Events, The Blaze, The Stream, The Federalist, Christianity Today, BeliefNet, Touchstone, World, Christian Science Monitor, Coast to Coast, NPR, CNN.com, C-SPAN, and Foxnews. Luskin is a regular contributor to Evolution News and the ID the Future Podcast.

Luskin is a Christian with a Jewish background. His special interests include geology, science education, biological origins, and environmental protection. He and his wife reside in the Seattle region, where they enjoy hiking, camping, kayaking, sailing, and other outdoor activities.