Jennifer McElwain | |
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Academic background | |
Education | BA, Botany, 1993, Trinity College Dublin PhD, Paleobotany, 1997, Royal Holloway, University of London |
Thesis | Fossil stomatal parameters as indicators of palaeo-atmospheric CO←2 concentration through Phanerozoic time. (1997) |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Trinity College Dublin |
Jennifer Claire McElwain is an Irish palaeobotanist. She is a full professor in the Trinity College Dublin's (TCD) School of Natural Sciences and hold the 1711 Chair of Botany. She is also the Director of Trinity College Botanic Garden. McElwain held the position of Assistant Curator of Paleobotany at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago between 2000 and 2003 and later Associate Curator of Paleobotany from 2003 until 2006.
McElwain was born into an academic family;her father was a chemical engineer and her mother was a gardener. When speaking of her childhood,she said:"I knew the Latin names of all the plants at the age of three. It was seeded early." [1] McElwain completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in Botany from Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in 1993 and her PhD in Paleobotany in 1997 from the Royal Holloway,University of London. [2] During her first year at TCD,she was influenced to pursue a career as a palaeobotanist after enrolling in a course focusing on quaternary palynology and geomorphology of the Irish landscape. [3] Following this,she was a Natural Environment Research Council Post Doctoral student and a Leverhulme Postdoctoral Fellow between 1998 and 2000 at the University of Sheffield. [2] As a postgraduate student at Sheffield University,McElwain studied the impact carbon dioxide had on global warming by examining plant fossils collected in Greenland during the 1920s. [4] In order to gather the fossils,she led a team of scientists in Greenland for one month to collect over 1,000 fossils. [5]
While engaging in post-doctoral work at the University of Sheffield,McElwain also held the position of Assistant Curator of Paleobotany at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago between 2000 and 2003 and later Associate Curator of Paleobotany from 2003 until 2006. [2] In these roles,she studied fossil leaves of plants that grew before,during and after the die-off of Triassic plants and animals. Through these fossils,McElwain found evidence of a rapid surge of seven times the normal amount of CO (-2) in the atmosphere. [4] [6] In 2004,she counted stomata to know where mountains and plateaus were located in the past,presenting barriers to atmospheric circulation. [7] [8] Two years later,McElwain accepted a faculty position at the University College Dublin [9] and received the Award for Excellence in EU research by the President of Ireland in 2012. [2]
As a Professor of Botany at TCD,McElwain edited the book 14 Expeditions which she said "showcases the breadth and importance of botany as a modern science addressing global research challenges." [10] She also continued her research into CO (-2) in the atmosphere and led a study in 2019 which found that holly and ivy are more climate change-ready in the face of warming temperatures than birch and oak. [11] During the COVID-19 pandemic,McElwain came up with the idea to film five-minute videos to showcase Ireland's native plants and wild places. [12]
In 2017 she was admitted as a member of the Royal Irish Academy. [13]
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Annette Jocelyn Otway-Ruthven was an Irish historian specialising in medieval Irish history,and was among the earliest female academics appointed in Trinity College Dublin.
Jane Ohlmeyer,,is a historian and academic,specialising in early modern Irish and British history. She is the Erasmus Smith's Professor of Modern History (1762) at Trinity College Dublin and Chair of the Irish Research Council,which funds frontier research across all disciplines.
Linda F. Hogan is an Irish ethicist,ecumenist and academic,specialising in Christian ethics,political ethics,human rights,gender,and ecumenism. She is Professor of Ecumenics at Trinity College Dublin,where she was also its vice-provost from 2011 to 2016. She worked as a lecturer at the University of Chester and University of Leeds before joining the staff of Trinity College,Dublin.
Caitríona Lally is a professor of Bioengineering in Trinity College,Dublin. She has been a qualified mechanical engineer since 1997. She did a PhD in cardiovascular biomechanics.
Rose Anne Kenny is an Irish geriatrician. She is the Regius Professor of Physic and a professor of medical gerontology at Trinity College Dublin (TCD),director of the Falls and Black-out Unit at St James's Hospital in Dublin,director of the Mercer's Institute for Successful Ageing and founding principal investigator for The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). She was admitted in 2014 to the Royal Irish Academy in recognition of academic excellence and achievement. Kenny is a fellow of Trinity College Dublin and of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of Ireland,London and Edinburgh.
Sinéad M. Ryan is an Irish theoretical physicist and professor of Theoretical High Energy Physics at Trinity College Dublin. Her research covers "high-energy particle physics,and how particles in atoms such as quarks and gluons stick together".
Sabina Brennan is an Irish neuroscientist,psychologist,and former television actress. She is currently an adjunct assistant professor working at Trinity College Dublin.
Linda E. Doyle is an Irish academic and educator who is the 45th provost and president of Trinity College Dublin (TCD),the university's chief officer. An electrical engineer,she has had a long academic career at Trinity,from the 1990s,most recently as Professor of Engineering and the Arts,in addition to holding other management roles such as Dean of Research. She has also led one telecommunications research centre at the university,and was the founding director of another,the multi-institution organisation known as CONNECT. Doyle has worked as a member of regulatory and advisory bodies in both Ireland,on broadband network strategy,and the UK,on mobile spectrum allocation. She is or has also been a director of public outreach projects such as Science Gallery Dublin and its international network,of two non-profit art galleries,and of two university spin-off companies.
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