Sonya Dyhrman

Sonya Dyhrman is a professor of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Dyhrman graduated with high honors in biology from Dartmouth College and received her Ph.D. in marine biology from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She did her postdoctoral training at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), where she was a tenured member of the scientific staff until she moved to Columbia. She has participated in over 30 research expeditions, including two expeditions to Antarctica for which she was awarded the Antarctic Service Medal. She teaches classes in microbiology, science communication, and climate and is the co-Director of an international training workshop in genomics. Dyhrman is an investigator with the Simons Foundation, a two-time Kavli Fellow in the National Academy Frontiers of Science Program, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. Her research leverages molecular tools to study the physiological ecology of cyanobacteria and eukaryotic microalgae and their role in shaping marine ecosystem structure, function and biogeochemistry. In addition to her research efforts, Dyhrman developed ocean science literacy activities for classrooms and the virtual world Whyville, giving more than one million children exposure to ocean literacy standards and the process of scientific discovery.