Marilyn Fogel
Marilyn Fogel | |
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| Born | September 19, 1952 |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater |
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| Spouse(s) | Christopher Wood Swarth |
| Awards | Alfred Treibs Medal (2013)
Fellow to the AAAS (2012) Member of the National Academy of Sciences (2019) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields |
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| Institutions |
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| Thesis | Carbon isotope fractionation by ribulose 1,5-biphosphate carboxylase from various organisms (1977) |
| Doctoral advisors |
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| Other academic advisors | Thomas C. Hoering |
Marilyn Fogel (born September 19, 1952) is an American geo-ecologist, currently working as a Professor of Geo-ecology at UC Riverside in Riverside, California. She is known for her work with stable isotope geochemistry, studying ancient climate, animal behavior, ecology, and astrobiology. Fogel has also served in many leadership roles, including Program Director at the National Science Foundation in geobiology and low-temperature geochemistry.[1]
She was the second female member of the Geophysical Laboratory and the first woman recipient of the Alfred Treibs Medal from the Geochemical Society for her work in organic geochemistry.[2]
Early life[]
Fogel was born on September 19, 1952 in Moorestown, New Jersey.
In 1970 she enrolled at Penn State, where she majored in biology,[3] [4] graduating in 1973 with a BS in biology with honors.[4][3] Her research mentor, Given, helped her apply to UT-Austin for graduate school. She decided to take a gap year before starting grad school to travel Europe and start a jewelry business making pins.
Academic career[]
At UT-Austin, Fogel worked with Drs. Chase Van Baalen, Patrick Parker, and F. Robert Tabita on her dissertation, titled “Carbon isotope fractionation by ribulose 1,5-biphosphate carboxylase from various organisms”.[5][6] While in graduate school, she owned an ice cream truck to help cover expenses. She graduated in 1977 with a PhD in Botany and Marine Sciences,[4] before continuing on to a postdoc at the Geophysical Lab at the Carnegie Institution of Washington from 1977 to 1979 under Dr. Thomas C. Hoering.[4]
Following her postdoc position, Fogel became a staff member at the Geophysical Lab in 1979 working in biogeochemistry, where she remained until 2012.[1] She was only the second female staff member at the Geophysical Lab. While there, Fogel became a visiting scientist at Carnegie's Department of Plant Biology (1985-1986), a visiting professor at the Department of Earth Sciences at Dartmouth College (1995), a visiting professor at the Department of Geology at the University of Maryland (2003-2005), and a Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Fellow (2003-2009).[1]
In 2012, she made the move from Carnegie in Washington DC to UC Merced in Merced, California to become a Professor in the School of Natural Sciences as well as the Chair of the Life and Environmental Sciences Unit.[7] There, she taught courses on the fundamentals of ecology, biogeochemistry, stable isotope ecology, field ecology, and the anthropocene.
In 2016, she moved to UC Riverside in Riverside, California, where she now resides as a Professor of Geo-ecology in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department, and the Director of the EDGE (Environmental Dynamics & Geo-Ecology) Institute.[8] Her research focuses on geo-ecology.
Research[]
Stable isotope ratios vary as a result of many biological and abiotic processes in the environment, changing over time, location, organism, and environment. The field of isotope geochemistry largely relies upon these natural variations, and can be incorporated into biological, ecological, chemical, and geological studies. Using isotope ratios, often 2H/1H,