Noah Fierer
American microbial ecologist
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Noah Fierer is an American microbial ecologist. He is a Full Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado Boulder.
PhD, 2003, University of California, Santa Barbara
Noah Fierer | |
|---|---|
| Born | Pennsylvania, US |
| Academic background | |
| Education | BA, 1995, Oberlin College PhD, 2003, University of California, Santa Barbara |
| Thesis | Stress ecology and the dynamics of microbial communities and processes in soil (2003) |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | University of Colorado Boulder Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences |
| Website | fiererlab |
Early life and education
Fierer was raised in Pennsylvania, US.[1] He completed his Bachelor of Arts degree at Oberlin College in 1995 and his PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2003.[2]
Career
Following his PhD, Fierer conducted his post-doctoral at Duke University before joining the faculty at the University of Colorado Boulder. In 2006, he collaborated with biologist Robert Jackson and published a study showing acidic soils of topical forests contained fewer bacterial species than the neutral soils of deserts.[3] As an assistant professor, he also led a study indicating women had a significantly greater diversity of microbes on their palms than men.[4] In 2010, Fierer helped develop a tool to identify individuals DNA using the bacterial communities living on their fingers and palms left behind on objects.[5] As a result of his research, Fierer also received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award to study the effects of nutrient addition on soil microbial communities.[6]
As a fellow at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) in 2014, Fierer co-authored a paper displaying the sequenced internal bacterial makeup of the three major life stages of a butterfly species.[7] Following this, he also collaborated with researchers from North Carolina State University to produce the first atlas of airborne microbes across the continental United States.[8] By 2017, he had co-authored three academic papers in addition to laboratory sequencing and authoring, to show that molecular approaches can be used to understand the makeup and sheer abundance of organisms. As a result, he was the recipient of the 2017 Provost Faculty Achievement Award.[9]
In 2018, Fierer partook in compiling the first global atlas of soil bacterial communities and identifying a group of around 500 key species worldwide.[10] In both 2018 and 2019, Fierer was recognized as a highly cited scholar by the Web of Science Group at Clarivate Analytics.[11][12]
Personal life
Fierer is married and has one daughter. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, biking, trail running, and skiing.[1]