2024 Division Awards for Outstanding Geobiologists

Every year the GBGM executive committee selects exceptional scholars to receive awards for their accomplishments in research, education/mentoring, and service in geobiology. This year we had an exceptional list of nominees so thanks to all those who nominated someone!

We are pleased to announce that the 2024 awards go to Nagissa Mahmoudi (pre-tenure), Eva Stüeken (post-tenure), and Alan Jay Kaufman (distinguished career). Please check out their brief biographies below and explore their websites for further details about their research.

Pre-Tenure Award Recipient: Nagissa Mahmoudi (McGill University)

Dr. Nagissa Mahmoudi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at McGill University. She combines experimental microbiology and molecular biology along with novel isotopic approaches to decipher what heterotrophic microbes are "eating" and understand the principles that underlie "why". Her work is important for understanding how microbes mediate the fate and transformation of organic compounds in coastal and marine environments. Recently, she has begun exploring the evolution of heterotrophic microbes and their impact on elemental cycling in the ancient oceans.  

Post-Tenure Award Recipient: Eva Stüeken (University of St Andrews) 

Dr. Eva Stüeken is a Reader (Associate Professor) in the School of Earth & Environmental Sciences at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Her research focuses on the origin and early evolution of life and implications for the habitability of other words. She uses a combination of field work in Precambrian terrains, analytical geochemistry, laboratory experiments, and simple models to reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions, nutrient fluxes and metabolisms over Earth's history. A particular emphasis of her work has been on the biogeochemical nitrogen cycle, including the development of methods to track nitrogen from the atmosphere to the biosphere and into the deep crust. More recently, she has begun exploring speciation of phosphorus in the igneous and sedimentary rock record.

Distinguished Career Award Recipient: Alan Jay Kaufman (University of Maryland)

Dr. Alan Jay Kaufman is a Professor of Geobiology and Geochemistry at the University of Maryland (UMD) where he has developed and maintained a stable isotope laboratory over the past 27 years.  Previous to his appointment at UMD, Kaufman completed his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees with John Hayes at Indiana University and then continued as a Post-doctoral Fellow and Research Scientist at Harvard University, collaborating with Andy Knoll, Stein Jacobsen, and Paul Hoffman.  Jay's research highlights the co-evolution of life and environment.  Through his field and laboratory focus on the stratigraphy, paleontology, and geochemistry of sedimentary rocks that accumulated across the most significant transitions in early Earth history, his integrated research has shed light on:

• The Great Oxidation Event (when atmospheric oxygen rose dramatically some 2.3 billion years ago) and its biological consequences;

• The extremes of climatic and environmental change associated with episodic Snowball Earth ice ages at both ends of the Proterozoic Eon;

• The Ediacaran Period evolution of macroscopic life in the aftermath of one of the greatest recorded perturbation of the carbon cycle;

• The shorter fuse for the Cambrian Explosion of Animals; and

• The spread of euxinia in epicontinental seaways as the cause of Late Devonian mass extinctions. 

Kaufman's studies have carried him to far away places with strange sounding names, including Namibia, Siberia, Australia, and Brazil where his 2020-2022 Fulbright Global Scholar award supported the discovery of biomineralized sponge grade animals in both Cryogenian and Ediacaran strata associated with dramatic environmental changes in the world oceans.  Jay's has advised 18 M.S. and Ph.D. theses, over 30 B.S. senior theses, and more than 50 undergraduate laboratory assistants over his tenure at the University of Maryland.  He has been recognized for teaching at UMD, including the 2000 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the 2014 Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Award, and the 2022 Board of Visitors Creative Educator Award.  In addition, Kaufman was a Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Mercator Guest Professor in 2007-2008 and was inducted as a Geological Society of America Fellow in 2012.

Please join us in congratulating these exceptional scientists at the 2024 GSA Connects Meeting in Anaheim; the awardees will be giving invited talks in our "New Voices in Geobiology" and "New Advances in Geobiology" sessions! Awards will be presented at the Geobiology Division Award Presentation (a.k.a. the GBGM Lunch).

2023 Divsion Awards for Outstanding Geobiologists

 Every year the GBGM executive committee selects exceptional scholars to receive awards for their accomplishments in research, education/mentoring, and service in geobiology. This year we had an exceptional list of nominees so thanks to all those who nominated someone!

We are pleased to announce that the 2023 awards go to Kristin Bergmann (pre-tenure), Colleen Hansel (post-tenure), and Gabriela Mángano (distinguished career). Please check out their brief biographies below and explore their websites for further details about their research.

Pre-Tenure Award Recipient: Kristin Bergmann (MIT)

Dr. Kristin Bergmann is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on how the chemistry and climate of the oceans and atmosphere affected the evolution of complex life, from unicellular microbial communities to multicellular animal communities. She uses a multi-disciplinary approach beginning with field observations in strata preserved in locations such as Oman, Svalbard, and the United States. She combines sedimentology and stratigraphy, stable isotope geochemistry of carbonates including clumped isotope thermometry, petrography and microanalytical techniques to help reconstruct the co-evolution of environmental and evolutionary change through Earth's long history. 

Post-Tenure Award Recipient: Colleen Hansel (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) 

Dr. Colleen Hansel is a Senior Scientist and Biogeochemist in the Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Colleen has more than 20 years of experience studying terrestrial and marine biogeochemistry, including controls on and consequences of the metabolic and biological diversity of natural and man-made ecosystems. Her research has focused on the cycling and mineralization of metals, using a range of microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. Colleen’s current research program is focused on coupled elemental cycles and cryptic processes that control the biogeochemistry and health of various marine ecosystems, ranging from coral reefs to the deep biosphere. One particular emphasis is the cycling and sources of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the impact of their formation on other elemental cycles and organismal health. To enable this research, Colleen has established an integrated science and engineering program to design and develop new in situ submersible sensing technologies to enable measurement of short-lived intermediates like ROS over various spatial scales.

Distinguished Career Award Recipient: Gabriela Mángano (University of Saskatchewan)

M. Gabriela Mángano is a Distinguished Professor and George J. McLeod Enhancement Chair in Geology at the University of Saskatchewan where she has taught for the last twenty years. Before her arrival to Canada, Gabriela worked for the Argentinian Research Council (CONICET), which she has recently re-joined as International Researcher. Gabriela has approached geobiology from the perspective of animal-substrate interactions in deep time. She likes to move along the geological time scale to detect evolutionary breakthroughs and track the deep history of bioturbation. Her research attempts to reconstruct the emergence of modern marine benthic ecology, discern environmental from evolutionary controls, and temporally calibrate ichnofacies and ichnofabrics. Gabriela immensely appreciates international collaboration and enjoys working with her graduate students (more than 30 supervised or co-supervised, visit www.ichnoplanet.ca). She is Past Co-Editor of PALAIOS and serves as Co-editor of Lethaia and Sedimentology. She was awarded the Association of Women Geoscientists Outstanding Educator Award (2018) and recently became a corresponding member of the Argentinean Academy of Sciences.  

These exceptional scientists were celebrated during our recent 2023 GSA Connects Meeting in Pittsburgh; the awardees gave excellent invited talks in our "New Voices in Geobiology" and "New Advances in Geobiology" sessions.

If you have a colleague you want to nominate for a GBGM award, be on the lookout for information on submitting nominations early 2024.

GBGM Student Presentation Awards at GSA 2023

GSA 2023 in Pittsburgh is coming up soon, and we are excited to announce another year of GSA GBGM student awards for outstanding student oral and poster presentations. This is a great opportunity to get to know professionals in your field and show off the fantastic work you’re all doing.

If you are a student presenting research at GSA 2023 this year and you would like to be considered for one of the GSA GBGM student awards, please fill out the following Google Form by October 6th, 2023:

https://forms.gle/ijJcfZZqBf9NNN6g8

Your GSA GBGM student representatives will assemble a team of judges to view your presentations and collect their feedback. We will announce the winners via email shortly after GSA ends. This year’s winners will be recognized during next year’s GSA meeting during our GBGM Division Award Presentation Event & Business Meeting.

If you are a postdoc or faculty member, we are looking for judges for our GBGM student presentation awards this year! Sign up here: https://forms.gle/uaqcnCt3Z8YcJuCr5

We look forward to hearing from everyone and seeing your presentations this year! If you have any questions, feel free to email Zoë Havlena (zoe.havlena@student.nmt.edu) and Lucy Webb (lcwebb@stanford.edu). 

2022 Division Awards for Outstanding Geobiologists

Every year the GBGM executive committee selects exceptional scholars to receive awards for their accomplishments in research, education/mentoring, and service in geobiology. This year we had an exceptional list of nominees so thanks to all those who nominated someone!

We are pleased to announce that the 2022 awards go to Lidya Tarhan (pre-tenure), Cara Santelli (post-tenure), and John Valley (distinguished career). Please check out their brief biographies below and explore their websites for further details about their research.

Pre-Tenure Award Recipient: Lidya Tarhan (Yale University)

Dr. Lidya Tarhan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Yale University and an Assistant Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology at the Yale Peabody Museum. Her research focuses on using the sedimentary record to reconstruct the co-evolution of ancient life and environments during critical intervals of Earth’s history. She also investigates the processes responsible for fossilization and how preservational biases modify stratigraphic and geobiological archives. She combines field-based paleontological and sedimentological investigations with a geochemical, petrographic and modeling toolkit. Her recent work has centered on reconstructing the emergence of early animals as ecosystem engineers. In addition to her geologic investigations, she also studies the environmental factors shaping animal-sediment interactions in modern marine settings.

Post-Tenure Award Recipient: Cara Santelli (University of Minnesota) 

Dr. Cara Santelli is an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and the BioTechnology Institute at the University of Minnesota.  Cara is a geomicrobiologist who examines the impact of microbial activity on wide-ranging geological and environmental processes.  In addition to answering key questions on the mechanisms, metabolic pathways, and geochemical impact of mineral-metal-microbe interactions, her research seeks to inform and improve strategies for remediating pollutants to improve the health of water and soil environments. Her work also seeks to advance environmental justice through community based participatory research that prioritizes and addresses the voices of communities.

Distinguished Career Award Recipient: John Valley (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

John Valley is the Emeritus Van Hise Professor of Geochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he has taught for 36 years. Valley is interested by all kinds of rocks (igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary) of all ages (Hadean to Recent). He has worked to improve microanalysis techniques of stable isotope ratios by laser and ion beam, and founded the WiscSIMS Lab at UW-Madison. His current projects investigate zircons and their inclusions to understand evolution of the crust and growth of continents. He has collaborated in geobiology research employing in situ analysis of O and C isotopes to evaluate vital effects vs. diagenesis, examine seasonality and paleoclimatology, determine migration history and paleodiet, and test biogenicity. This has included samples ranging from modern foraminifera, mollusks, otoliths, and  teeth to Earth’s oldest microfossils. Its been a lot of fun.

Please join us in congratulating these exceptional scientists at the 2022 GSA Connect Meeting in Denver; the awardees will be giving invited talks in our "New Voices in Geobiology" and "New Advances in Geobiology" sessions! Awards will be presented at the Geobiology Division Award Presentation (a.k.a. the GBGM Lunch).

Nominate your colleagues for the 2022 GSA GBGM Awards!

Dear Geo(micro)biologists,

 

Every year the GSA Geobiology and Geomicrobiology division selects three exceptional researchers to receive pre-tenure, post-tenure, and distinguished career awards (or equivalent career stage in a non-tenure track position). For details on past awards, see the GBGM website. Since 2018, the division leadership has solicited nominations from our members in order to create a more diverse and inclusive nominee pool, both in terms of academic fields and demographics. We also hope this process allows our members to feel more involved and empowered to nominate the people who have made a difference to them or their (sub)field.

 

Please use the nomination form to identify exceptional researchers who you think should be recognized, along with justification (max. 500 words). Final nominees will be selected by the GBGM division representation committee from amongst this pool, and awarded based the nominee’s complete portfolio (i.e., research, mentoring, service, and leadership). Please note that you must confirm that the person you are nominating has not breached GSA's Code of Ethics & Professional Conduct nor is under investigation for any action that would be a breach of GSA's Code of Ethics & Professional Conduct.

 

We're grateful for your participation in this process - we know that your time is valuable, but this is one of the most important things the division does, and we think the community should nominate our awardees. Please submit your nominations to Vicky by Sunday, March 20th.

 

We look forward to being overwhelmed with nominations!

 

Vicky, Trinity, David, Emmy, Lydia, Brandt, Rowan, Alison, and Zoe (a.k.a. your Geobiology and Geomicrobiology Division Representatives)

Winners of the 2021 GSA GBGM Division Student Presentation Awards

It is our pleasure to announce the winners of the GSA 2021 student presentation awards. We were all so impressed with the quality of presentations by our student members! Picking winners this year was not an easy job.

We would also like to express our deepest gratitude to our members who judged this year's competition. Without your feedback and support, this endeavor would not be possible. 

To all of our students, congratulations on presenting at GSA this year. All of the excellent entries from you all truly made choosing winners difficult, but here are the students who will receive awards and honorable mentions this year:

Best oral presentation winners:

Karen Pham: "Impacts of Miocene climate change on palm trait evolution in Madagascar and mainland Africa"

Katherine Turk: "Priapulid trace fossils from the late Ediacaran of Namibia"

Best poster presentation winners:

Martin Fernandez: "Preliminary investigations into ecology and functional morphology of the annulated orthoconic cephalopod Spyroceras"

Hannah Hogan: "Provenance of volcanogenic sediments in Wuchiapingian and earliest Changhsingian strata at Penglaitan"

Andrei Olaru: "Functional morphology of the Ediacaran organism Tribrachidiium heraldicum revealed by computational fluid dynamics"

Honorable mentions:

Andres Marquez (poster presentation): "Comparing the hypoxia tolerance and temperature sensitivities of Paleozoic and Modern marine fauna"

Jack Shaw (oral presentation): "Reassessing Burgess Shale trophic structure"

As with previous years, we will be handing out prizes to our award winners at GBGM awards luncheon next year at GSA 2022.

We'd like to thank all of the students who contacted us and put their names forward for consideration. It was a real privilege to see and hear about the work you've been doing, and we encourage you to enter again next year. Recognizing the excellent work of our members is the most important aspect of the GBGM division, so please stay in touch. It is wonderful to see the faces of the student population of GSA GBGM and there is a bright future ahead for this group!

The University of Southern California Department of Earth Sciences invites applications for a position in Geobiology at the level of Associate or Full professor

 At USC, Geobiology is interpreted broadly, including geomicrobiology, biogeochemistry, carbon cycles and proxies, ocean acidification, astrobiology, source to sink processes, earth-atmosphere-biosphere co-evolution, global change, carbon sequestration, paleoenvironments/paleoclimate, paleobiology and other areas that relate to these topics.

The successful candidate will be expected to build active collaborations within and outside the university, to develop internationally recognized and externally funded research programs, and to teach graduate and undergraduate level courses.  This position is supported by significant lab space, research infrastructure, and resources commensurate with the hiring level.

Located in central Los Angeles, USC serves a transnational student body and provides unique opportunities to engage in research, teaching, and service within an urban sphere, as well as easy access to the broader Southern California environment. The position offers opportunities to interact with the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies and the Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island.

Candidates should submit a full CV, research and teaching statements (1-2 pages each), names and email addresses of 3-5 individuals who could provide letters of recommendation, a statement on how you would foster diversity at USC, and a brief description of possible opportunities for interaction with the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, if applicable.

To be considered for this position, applicants are required to submit an electronic application at https://usccareers.usc.edu/job/los-angeles/associate-or-full-professor-of-geobiology/1209/14872585040. Application review will begin on Nov. 1, 2021 and continue until the search is completed. Letters may be requested of referees prior to this date. Send inquiries to the Department Chair, Frank Corsetti (fcorsett@usc.edu).

USC is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law or USC policy. USC will consider for employment all qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring ordinance.

Link to ad: https://usccareers.usc.edu/job/los-angeles/associate-or-full-professor-of-geobiology/1209/14872585040