GSA’s Geobiology and Geomicrobiology Division bestows two Excellence Awards to members each year. The Pre-Tenure Excellence Award and the Post-Tenure Excellence Award are based, specifically, on excellence in research, mentoring, service, and leadership for the geobiology and geomicrobiology community (appropriate to the candidate’s position).
Dr. Nagissa Mahmoudi is the 2024 Pre-Tenure Excellence Awardee.
Dr. Mahmoudi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at McGill University. Dr. Mahmoudi 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". Dr. Mahmoudi's work is important for understanding how microbes mediate the fate and transformation of organic compounds in coastal and marine environments. Dr. Mahmoudi serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Geobiology and is finishing a term as the Division Secretary for GSA’s Geobiology and Geomicrobiology Division. Dr. Mahmoudi’s lab has a reputation for being a welcoming, dynamic, and student-centered environment, attracting exceptional trainees. Dr. Mahmoudi's students and trainees have won prestigious national scholarships and publish in top journals. Dr. Mahmoudi is regularly an invited speaker at international conferences and departmental seminars. To quote Dr. Mahmoudi’s nomination: “For a pre-tenured faculty to be receiving such attention speaks volumes of Nagissa’s stature amongst her peers.”
Dr. Eva E. Stüeken is the 2024 Post-Tenure Excellence Awardee.
Dr. Eva Stüeken is a Reader (Associate Professor) in the School of Earth & Environmental Sciences at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Dr. Stüeken's research focuses on the origin and early evolution of life and implications for the habitability of other words. Dr. Stüeken 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 Dr. Stüeken's 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, Dr. Stüeken has begun exploring speciation of phosphorus in the igneous and sedimentary rock record. Dr. Stüeken is an Associate Editor for Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, and also serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Geobiology and the Editorial Board of PLoS One. Dr. Stüeken is the coordinator for the MSc Geochemistry Program at St. Andrews, and frequently leads student field trips. Dr. Stüeken is currently advising six graduate students, and has been the principal advisor for 11 completed graduate students.
Congratulations to the Geobiology and Geomicrobiology 2024 Excellence Awardees!