Roger E. Summons, a professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, will receive a Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt-Stifung Foundation in Germany. The award is conferred "in recognition of lifetime achievements in research."
Awardees are invited to carry out research projects of their own choice in cooperation with colleagues in Germany. The idea is to promote international scientific cooperation.
Summons' research interests include the biogeochemistry of geologically significant microbes, microbially dominated ecosystems, and organic and isotopic indicators of climate change, biotic evolution and mass extinction.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on June 6, 2007 (download PDF).