Karen Polinger Foster (A.B. 1971, Mount Holyoke College; M.A. 1974, M.Phil., Ph.D. 1976, Yale University) is Lecturer in Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations and History of Art at Yale University. She specialises in the Bronze Age Aegean, and has a particular interest in interconnections with Egypt and Mesopotamia. Foster, having published extensively in her field, was awarded the Felicia A. Holton Book Award from the Archaeological Institute of America in 2010 for Civilizations of Ancient Iraq (2009), a book co-authored with Benjamin R. Foster. In addition, she has recently completed a trilogy of articles looking at volcanic imagery in art and literature, her investigations spanning from Thera to Pompeii. Her work on the Thera eruption has led to several collaborative scientific analyses of pumice from Egyptian graves. Foster is the author of over seventy articles and book reviews. She has also been actively involved in exhibitions, special events, conferences and panel discussions.