Description: National Museum of Natural History paleontologist, Dr. Anna K. Behrensmeyer, reconstructs and compares land ecosystems through time to explore how ecology has helped to shape land vertebrate evolution and community structure throughout the Phanerozoic. #Groundbreaker
Description: Senior Scientist, Denise Breitburg, directs the Marine & Estuarine Ecology Lab at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, and has developed novel ways to investigate the impacts of dead zones and acidification on Chesapeake Bay fish and invertebrates. #Groundbreaker
Description: Retired geologist Dr. Ursula B. Marvin, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, studied lunar samples from the Apollo missions, and meteorites around the world. She has both an asteroid and a mountain ridge in the Antarctic ice named after her. #Groundbreaker
Description: Senior scientist, Dr. Cynthia Gilmour, is the Director of the Microbial Ecology Lab at the Smithsonian's Environmental Research Center where studies microbes that produce methylmercury in order to reduce the risk of mercury pollution. #Groundbreaker
Description: Dr. Jennifer Whitten, postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies of the National Air & Space Museum, studies radar data to understand the surface geology of Venus, Mars, and the Moon. #Groundbreaker