Jody W. Deming earned her Ph.D. in (marine) Microbiology from the University of Maryland (1981), after a B.A. in Biological Sciences cum laude from Smith College (1974). She developed microbial life detection assays for NASA between degree programs (1974–1977). She then received NSF and NOAA postdoctoral fellowships for deep-sea research (1981–1983) at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Johns Hopkins University. She continued research at Johns Hopkins, including Alvin dives at deep-sea hydrothermal vents, until moving to the University of Washington in 1988, where she is Professor in the School of Oceanography.
At UW, she has directed the Marine Bioremediation Program (1992–1999), launched the Center for Environmental Genomics, helped establish the nation’s first graduate training program in Astrobiology (1998–present), and directed the Future of Ice Initiative (2014–2015). She and her students currently explore microbial life in the Arctic Ocean and its sea-ice cover. She chaired the International Arctic Polynya Program (2000–2012) and served on the US Polar Research Board during the International Polar Year (2007–2009) and as chief scientist on international, overwintering icebreaking expeditions (2003–2004, 2008–2009). She counts over 50 seagoing or ice-related expeditions during her career.
Among her awards are the US Coast Guard Arctic Service Medal (1993), Honorary Doctorate in Science and Engineering, Université Laval, Quebec City (2006), Walters Endowed Professorship (2009–2016), Hasselblad Guest Professor, University of Göteburg, Sweden (2015), and Karl M. Banse Endowed Professorship (2016– present). She is Editor-in-Chief of the Ocean Science domain of Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, a member of the American Academy of Microbiology (elected 1999) and of the US National Academy of Sciences (elected 2003). She loves to swim, in salty water.
Current Students:
Past Students:
- Max Showalter (Knauss Marine Policy Fellow)
- Jeff Bowman (Assistant Professor, Scripps Institute of Oceanography)
- Jesse Colangelo-Lillis (Research Associate, Center for Deep Energy Biosphere Investigations (C-DEBI), University of Colorado, Boulder)
- Marcela Ewert-Sarmiento (Instructor (Biology), Edmonds Community College)
- Eric Collins (Assistant Professor (Biological Oceanography), University of Alaska, Fairbanks)
- Llyd Wells (Tutor, St. John’s College)
Selected Publications
Showalter, G. M., & Deming, J. W. (2017). Low-temperature chemotaxis, halotaxis and chemohalotaxis by the psychrophilic marine bacterium Colwellia psychrerythraea 34H. Environmental Microbiology Reports, 92–101. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-2229.12610
Deming, J. W., & Collins, R. E. (2017). Sea ice as a habitat for Bacteria, Archaea and viruses. In Sea Ice (pp. 326–351). John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.
Deming, J. W., & Collins, R. E. (2017). Sea ice as a habitat for Bacteria, Archaea and viruses. In Sea Ice (pp. 326–351). John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.Colangelo-Lillis, J., Eicken, H., Carpenter, S. D., & Deming, J. W. (2016). Evidence for marine origin and microbial-viral habitability of sub-zero hypersaline aqueous inclusions within permafrost near Barrow, Alaska. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, fiw053. https://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiw053
Bowman, J. S., & Deming, J. W. (2016). Wind-driven distribution of bacteria in coastal Antarctica: evidence from the Ross Sea region. Polar Biology, 25–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-016-1921-2
Boetius, A., Anesio, A. M., Deming, J. W., Mikucki, J. A., & Rapp, J. Z. (2015). Microbial ecology of the cryosphere: sea ice and glacial habitats. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 677–690. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro3522