Isabel P. Montañez

Isabel P. Montañez, of Davis, California, earned a doctorate in geosciences from Virginia Tech in 1989, following a bachelor’s degree from Bryn Mawr College. She began her academic career as an assistant and associate professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of California, Riverside, before joining the faculty at the University of California, Davis, in 1998. She currently serves as the Chancellor’s Leadership Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Director of the UC Davis Institute of the Environment.

A leading expert in sedimentary geochemistry and paleoclimatology, Montañez is renowned for her research on past disruptions in global carbon cycling and regional climate change, particularly during periods of warming and major environmental transitions in earth’s history. Her work has been instrumental in advancing our understanding of the long-term dynamics of the earth’s climate system and its connection to significant environmental shifts.

Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021, Montañez is also a fellow of several esteemed professional societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Geophysical Union (AGU), The Geochemical Society, the European Society of Geochemistry, and the Geological Society of America (GSA). Her numerous national and international honors include the Arthur L. Day Medal, the Jean Baptiste Lamarck Medal, and the Francis J. Pettijohn Medal. Beyond her research and teaching, Montañez served as President of the Geological Society of America from 2017 to 2018 and currently chairs the Board of Earth Sciences and Resources for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.