There are two Excellence Awards: the Pre-tenure Excellence Award and the Post-Tenure Excellence Award. The nominations for the Pre- and Post-Tenure Awards will be solicited from current division members and be based, specifically, on excellence in research, mentoring, service, and leadership for the geobiology and geomicrobiology community (appropriate to the candidate’s position). From these nominations, the Division management board and appointed Division committee of awards will come to a consensus on the awardees. The awards will consist of both a plaque as well as an honorary membership to the division should the awardee not be a current member.
2023 Pre Tenure Awardee: Kristen Bergmann
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.
2023 Post Tenure Awardee: Colleen Hansel
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.
Previous Awardees:
Pre Tenure Award
2022: Lidya Tarhan
2021: Kimberley Lau
2020: Emmy Smith
2019: Elizabeth Swanner
2018: Paula Welander and James Schiffbauer
2017: Christopher Reinhard
2016: Erik Sperling
2015: Arpita Bose
2014: Rob Sansom
2013: David Johnston
2012: Alexis Templeton
2011: David Fike
Post Tenure Award
2022: Cara Santelli
2021: Phoebe Cohen
2020: Gregory Dick
2019: Clara Chan
2018: Beth Orcutt
2017: Susannah Porter
2016: Tanja Bosak
2015: Tim Lyons
2014: Sara Pruss
2013: Kurt Konhauser
2012: Barbara Sherwood-Lollar
2011: James Hagadorn