2020 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 2020 awards go to Emmy Smith (pre-tenure), Greg Dick (post-tenure), and Kurt Konhauser and Will Berelson (distinguished career; we couldn't choose which one of these guys was the most deserving... so we just decided to have two awards this year) Please check out their brief biographies below and explore their websites for further details about their research.

Pre-Tenure Award Recipient: Emmy F. Smith (Johns Hopkins University)

Dr. Emmy Smith is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. She is a field geologist interested in the co-evolution of life, climate, oceans, and tectonics during the Neoproterozoic and Cambrian. Her approach integrates geologic mapping, regional stratigraphy, sedimentology, paleontology, stable isotope geochemistry, and geochronology to better understand mechanisms for environmental and evolutionary change during this unusual interval in Earth’s history.

Post-Tenure Award Recipient: Gregory Dick (University of Michigan)

Dr. Gregory (Greg) Dick is an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Michigan. He studies how microorganisms interact with each other and with geochemistry, mostly on the modern Earth but also to understand Earth’s geobiological history. Current research is focused on cyanobacteria; he aims to determine the controls on oxygen production in cyanobacterial mats and the environmental and biological factors that influence the production of toxins in harmful cyanobacterial blooms. He is particularly interested in merging approaches from molecular biology, microbiology, and geochemistry.

Distinguished Career Award Recipient: William M. Berelson (University of Southern California)

Dr. William (Will) M. Berelson is a Professor of Earth Sciences and Environmental Studies at the University of Southern California, where he has taught and conducted research for over 40 years. His early studies of bioturbation in St. Croix sands and North Carolina barrier island migration naturally(?) led him to a lifelong love of biogeochemistry. Many studies of benthic fluxes and elemental cycling in the ocean have been supported by his Rube Goldberg-like invention habit. His recent work is on calcium carbonate dissolution kinetics, CO2 sequestration, and the urban C cycle. In 2002, he and Kurt Hanselmann, with Agouron Foundation support, launched the Geobiology Summer course, which continues today cross-training graduate students and building a supportive and intellectual cohort. Degrees in geology at U. Rochester, Duke and USC have left him with great friendships and excellent basketball and football teams to cheer.

Distinguished Career Award Recipient: Kurt Konhauser (University of Alberta)

Dr. Kurt O. Konhauser is a Professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Alberta. Kurt is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Geobiology, author of Introduction to Geomicrobiology, founding member and 1st President of the Geobiology Society, and organizer for the 2017 and 2019 Geobiology Society Conferences in Banff. Kurt obtained his PhD from the University of Western Ontario before undertaking postdoctoral research at the University of Toronto and an academic appointment at the University of Leeds. Kurt moved to the University of Alberta in 2002 where he was the Canada Research Chair in Geomicrobiology. His research interests span a number of facets of geobiology and geomicrobiology including reconstructing the evolution of the biosphere across Earth’s history, modern analogue environments, and the surface reactivity of microbes and minerals. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Geochemical Society, and the American Geophysical Union.

Please join us in congratulating these exceptional scientists at the GSA Geobiology Division Award Presentation (a.k.a. the GBGM Lunch) during the 2020 GSA in Montreal, Canada.