2023 Simons Investigators in Aquatic Microbial Ecology Announced

The Simons Foundation has named seven scientists as 2023 Simons Investigators in Aquatic Microbial Ecology. The five-year awards are intended to support outstanding recently tenured investigators in the field of microbial ecology in marine or natural freshwater systems who will advance understanding through field studies, laboratory experiments, modeling or theory. The awardees are:

• Brett Baker of the University of Texas, Austin, who will undertake a holistic survey of ecological roles of microbes in marine sediments
• Otto Cordero of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who will study the structure, form and function of heterotrophic marine microbial communities
• Seth John of the University of Southern California, who will explore the impacts of trace metals on marine ecology by combining culturing, models and observations
• Naomi Levine of the University of Southern California, who will study phycosphere plasticity as a potential adaptation strategy
• Alyson Santoro of the University of California, Santa Barbara, who will study the microbial adaptation to the deep sea by identifying unique evolutionary strategies of chemoautotrophic nitrifiers
• Cameron Thrash of the University of Southern California, who will study coastal SAR11 in a changing climate
• Frank Stewart of Montana State University, who will integrate the understanding of oxygen tipping points in ‘anaerobic’ nitrogen and methane cycling