2015 Simons Early Career Investigator in Marine Microbial Ecology and Evolution Awards Announced

The Simons Foundation is pleased to announce the 2015 Simons Early Career Investigator in Marine Microbial Ecology and Evolution awardees. Jake Bailey, at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; Tanja Bosak, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Alyson Santoro, at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science; and Frank Stewart, from the Georgia Institute of Technology will receive the awards.

The awards are intended to help launch and support the careers of outstanding young investigators who use quantitative approaches to advance our understanding of marine microbial ecology and evolution. Microbes play an essential role in the ecology and biogeochemistry of the oceans, capturing solar energy, producing and consuming greenhouse gases, and providing the base of the food web.

Jake Bailey received his B.S. in geology from the University of Arizona and his Ph.D. in geology and geobiology from the University of Southern California. He was an Agouron Institute Geobiology Postdoctoral Fellow at the California Institute of Technology. Currently assistant professor of geobiology at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Bailey is an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellow in Ocean Sciences, University of Minnesota McKnight Land Grant Professor and recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER grant.

Tanja Bosak earned her undergraduate degree in geophysics from Zagreb University in Croatia and her Ph.D. in geobiology from the California Institute of Technology. She was a Microbial Sciences Initiative Fellow at Harvard University and then moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she is now associate professor of geobiology. She is the recipient of the Subaru Outstanding Woman in Science Award from the Geological Society of America and the Macelwane Medal from the American Geophysical Union, and is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union.

Alyson Santoro is assistant professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. She received her B.A. in ecology and evolutionary biology from Dartmouth College and her Ph.D. in environmental engineering and science from Stanford University. She was then a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Postdoctoral Scholar Fellow in marine chemistry. Santoro is the recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship in Ocean Sciences and is an associate of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Integrated Microbial Biodiversity Program.

Frank Stewart is assistant professor in the School of Biology at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He received his B.A. in biology from Middlebury College and his Ph.D. in organismic and evolutionary biology from Harvard University. Before moving to Georgia Tech, Stewart worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellow in Ocean Sciences.

Each grantee will receive $180,000 per year for a period of three years.