Dr. Mary Voytek, Director of NASA’s Astrobiology program, was presented this year’s GSO Dean’s Distinguished Achievement Award. The awards, conferred by the President of the University and each college within the University, honor alumni who have brought distinction to themselves and the University through their professional achievements, outstanding leadership or community service.

Dr. Voytek earned her B.A. in biology in 1980 from The Johns Hopkins University; her M.S. in oceanography in 1984 from the University of Rhode Island, Graduate School of Oceanography; and her Ph.D. in biology/ocean sciences in 1995 from the University of California.

Dr. Voytek is the Deputy Program Scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory, whose robot, Curiosity, is currently exploring Mars.  Her primary research interest is aquatic microbial ecology and biogeochemistry. She has studied environmental controls on microbial transformations of nutrients, xenobiotics, and metals in freshwater and marine systems. She has worked in several extreme environments including Antarctica, hypersaline lakes, deep-sea hydrothermal vents, and terrestrial deep- subsurface sites. She has conducted deep-biosphere studies at the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure. Prior to joining NASA in 2008, she headed the Microbiology and Molecular Ecology team at the U.S. Geological Survey.

For more information about the Distinguished Achievement Awards, please see the related press release.
Photo: Dr. Voytek with Dr. Bruce Corliss, Dean, Graduate School of Oceanography