Earlier today, Dean Arthur Nowell named Professor Ginger Armbrust as a Lowell and Frankie Wakefield Professor of Ocean and Fishery Sciences. Congratulations Ginger!
Ginger's research is centered on phytoplankton, the microscopic organisms responsible for 40% of the photosynthesis on earth. Her work emphasizes molecular approaches and combines lab-based and field-based studies to address basic questions about the function of marine ecosystems. She received her B.S. from Stanford University and her Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Oceanography. She joined the UW faculty in 1995 and was promoted to Professor in 2006. She is also a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Investigator in Marine Microbiology and the Co-Director of the UW Pacific Northwest Center for Human Health and Ocean Studies.
She and her oceanography colleagues Professors Ger van den Engh, Gabrielle Rocap and Bob Morris moved recently to be co-located with faculty from several other departments focussing UW's work in environmental genomics. In the same ways that genome sciences have advanced our understanding of human health, these researchers work toward new insights into how oceanic ecosystems respond to environmental change. Their brand new laboratory is located in Benjamin Hall Interdisciplinary Research Building on the southwest fringe of campus. One highlight of this state-of-the-art facility is an advanced computing visualization system, the OptIPortal: a 63 megapixel display that catalyzes understanding of massive sets of data and is connected to a cooperative center at UC San Diego via the National LambdaRail.
More information on the Armbrust Lab
