News & Events

04-24-20

Victoria J. Orphan, James Irvine Professor of Environmental Science and Geobiology and the director of the Center for Environmental Microbial Interactions (CEMI), has been honored as a new member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS). Orphan focuses on communities of microbial life involved in the cycling of elements such as sulfur, carbon, and nitrogen. She has spent decades studying the partnership of a species of bacteria and a species of archaea that live within deep-sea methane seeps in what is called a consortia, a kind of symbiotic aggregate of multiple species. [Caltech story]

Tags: honors ESE Victoria Orphan

09-21-16

Environmental Science and Engineering Professors Dianne Newman and Victoria Orphan have been selected as 2016 MacArthur Fellows. Professor Newman's research focuses on microbial stress responses, with an emphasis on mechanisms of energy generation and survival when oxygen is scarce. Professor Orphan studies the molecular microbial ecology of anaerobic communities with a particular focus on microorganisms that live in deep-ocean sediment beds and consume large quantities of methane released from seeps in the ocean floor. [Caltech story]

Tags: honors research highlights ESE Dianne Newman Victoria Orphan