Maggie Osburn
OGD Chair
07/2024 - 12/2027
Magdalena Osburn is an Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Northwestern University, where she also serves as Seminar Director and Nemmers Host. With a Ph.D. and M.S. in Geobiology from Caltech and a B.A. summa cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis, her research explores how lipid biomarkers preserve geochemical and isotopic records of microbial life and environmental conditions across geologic timescales. Combining tools from organic geochemistry, microbiology, and sedimentary geology, she investigates microbial processes in both modern ecosystems and the deep subsurface, with a particular focus on hydrogen isotope fractionation.
Sebastian Naeher
Chair Elect
01/2023 - 12/2027
Sebastian is a Senior Lecturer at Lincoln University and Adjunct Scientist at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. His research focuses on biomarkers and compound-specific stable isotopes to reconstruct past and study modern environmental and climate changes from lake sediments, coastal and marine environments, soils, sedimentary rocks (deep time) and petroleum. He also uses pyrolysis techniques to study organic matter composition, sources and age, and to quantify microplastic pollution. He is active in several geoscience societies and serves as Associate Editor for Biogeosciences, New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, and New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research. He has co-led the thematic issue dedicated to biomarkers in Elements Magazine.
Sze Ling Ho
01/2023 - 12/2027
Ling is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Oceanography. Her research focuses on developing and applying geochemical proxies to investigate past climate, ocean and environmental changes, with particular emphasis on reconstructing ocean temperatures.
Silvio Pantoja-Gutiérrez
01/2022 - 12/2026
Silvio Pantoja-Gutiérrez is a Professor of Oceanography in the Department of Oceanography at the University of Concepción in Chile. He earned a degree in marine biology from the University of Concepción, and a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in oceanography from Stony Brook University in New York, and was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. His research is grounded in marine organic geochemistry and includes the study of the biochemical degradation of biopolymers in the ocean and changing ocean redox conditions and temperatures over time. He is currently interested in the microbial transformation of organic contaminants in the environment, including the role of marine fungi in the marine carbon cycle.
Fatima Husain
07/2024 - 12/2027
Fatima is a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As a professional science writer, Fatima co-founded and hosted BIOmarkers, a podcast series covering the oral history of organic geochemistry. She is interested in the origins of complex life. Her current research focuses on cyanobacterial pigments, their functions in microbes, and their evolutionary history.