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At 150.4 miles (242.0 km), Lechuguilla Cave is the eighth-longest explored cave in the world and the second deepest in the continental United States. It is most famous for its unusual geology, rare formations, and pristine condition.
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Penelope J. Boston is a speleologist and astrobiologist. She was associate director of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute in Carlsbad, New Mexico, along with founding and directing the Cave and Karst Studies Program at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro. Among her research interests are geomicrobiology of caves and mines, extraterrestrial speleogenesis, and space exploration and astrobiology generally.
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Katrina Jane Edwards was a pioneering geomicrobiologist known for her studies of organisms living below the ocean floor, specifically exploring the interactions between the microbes and their geological surroundings, and how global processes were influenced by these interactions. She spearheaded the Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigation (C-DEBI) project at the University of Southern California, which is ongoing. Edwards also helped organize the deep biosphere research community by heading the Fe-Oxidizing Microbial Observatory Project on Loihi Seamount, and serving on several program steering committees involving ocean drilling. Edwards taught at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and later became a professor at the University of Southern California.[1][2]
Victoria J. Orphan is a geobiologist at the California Institute of Technology who studies the interactions between marine microorganisms and their environment. As of 2020, she is the Chair for the Center of Environmental Microbial Interactions.
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Dawn Yvonne Sumner is an American geologist, planetary scientist, and astrobiologist. She is a professor at the University of California, Davis. Sumner's research includes evaluating microbial communities in Antarctic lakes, exploration of Mars via the Curiosity rover, and characterization of microbial communities in the lab and from ancient geologic samples. She is an investigator on the NASA Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and was Chair of the UC Davis Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences from 2014 to 2016. She is Fellow of the Geological Society of America.
Nora Noffke is an American geologist who is a professor in the Department of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, USA. Noffke's research focuses on the sedimentology of biofilm forming sedimentary structures in modern aquatic environments, where clastic deposits dominate. Such structures occur in the fossil record as well. Her studies are interdisciplinary combining sedimentology with microbiology, geochemistry, and mineralogy.
Rachel J Whitaker is a professor of Microbiology in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her laboratory's research focuses on the evolution of Archaea, Bacteria, and Viruses in both natural and clinical environments.
Annette Summers Engel is an American earth scientist who is Donald and Florence Jones Professor of Aqueous Geochemistry at the University of Tennessee. Her research considers how microbes interact with rocks and minerals. She was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2019.
Diana E. Northup is an American microbiologist, speleologist, ecologist, Visiting Professor of Biology, and Professor Emerita of Library Sciences with the University of New Mexico. Her research focuses on the microbial ecology of caves around the world. Dr. Northup is a Fellow of the National Speleological Society and the Cave Research Foundation. She wrote the Wiley textbook Microbial Ecology. She was awarded the National Speleological Society Science Prize in 2013.
References
- ↑ Burke, Monte (11 April 2005). "Mavericks: Cave Woman". Forbes. Archived from the original on 12 April 2005. Retrieved 16 August 2008.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Augliere, Bethany. "Down to Earth With: Cave microbiologist Hazel Barton". Earth. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
- ↑ "Caving,Getting Started". n.d. Archived from the original on 18 October 2018. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
- ↑ John Roach (30 April 2001). "Scientist Journeys into Caves for Clues to Extreme Life". National Geographic News. Archived from the original on 2 May 2001. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
- 1 2 Nichols, Chelsea. "Prof. makes NKU her cave". The Northerner. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
- 1 2 "Dr. Hazel Barton". University of Akron. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
- ↑ "Cave Science" . Retrieved 16 November 2020.
- 1 2 3 "Outreach - Documentaries". Cave Science. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
- ↑ Ellis-Hill, Diana. "Defeating the Superbugs". Alexander Street. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
- ↑ "Extreme scientists : exploring nature's mysteries from perilous places / by Donna M. Jackson". TROVE. National Library of Australia and partners. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
- ↑ "Hazel Barton". The My Hero Project. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
- ↑ "Dr. Hazel Barton receives Alice C. Evans Award from American Society of Microbiology : UA News". www.uakron.edu. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
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