Karen Joyce Osborn (born January 29, 1974) is a marine scientist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History Invertebrate Zoology department.

During her time in Micronesia she scuba dived often and became fascinated with the amount of diversity that existed in the coral reefs.

[4] In 2011, she became an Associate Curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in the invertebrate zoology department.

[5] Now at the National Museum of Natural History she focuses her research on marine invertebrates living in the mid water level of the ocean.

She enjoys incorporating art into her work and has helped train many people to make scientific illustrations.