Mary Voytek and Marilyn Fogel Honored by the American Geophysical Union

Written byAaron GronstalSourceAGU

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) has announced the awardees of the union’s highest honors for “excellence in scientific research, education, communication, and outreach.” NASA-supported astrobiologists among this year’s 36 recipients include Mary Voytek, Program Scientist for Astrobiology at NASA, and the late Marilyn Fogel of the University of California, Riverside.

Mary Voytek, Senior Scientist for Astrobiology in the Science Mission Directorate, addresses the crowd at a regional competition of FameLab USA held in Chicago, Illinois.Image credit: NASA Astrobiology.

Mary Voytek (NASA Headquarters) has been selected as a recipient of the Ambassador Award. This award is presented annually to recognize “outstanding contributions to one or more of the following areas: societal impact, service to the Earth and space community, scientific leadership, and promotion of talent/career pool.” In addition, the award “honors individuals whose achievements extend beyond those recognized by traditional scientific discipline awards.”

Mary Voytek is the Senior Scientist for Astrobiology in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. Formerly the head of the US Geological Survey’s Microbiology and Molecular Ecology Laboratory, Voytek joined NASA to lead the Astrobiology Program in September of 2008. Since arriving at NASA, Voytek has led innovative strategies to guide the astrobiology research that NASA funds toward making groundbreaking advances in this rapidly progressing field.

Marilyn Fogel was awarded the NASA Astrobiology Program's certificate of appreciation for her influence on the field of astrobiology in 2016.Image credit: NASA Astrobiology.

Marilyn Fogel (University of California, Riverside) was selected to receive the Eunice Newton Foote Medal for Earth-Life Science. According to the AGU, this award is presented to “an exceptional senior scientist for outstanding creative achievements in research at the intersection of Earth and life sciences that substantially advanced understanding of the past, present, or future of key facets of the Earth system, or of the prospects for life on worlds beyond our own, or of the future of human well-being.”

Fogel will be the first recipient of the Eunice Newton Foote Medal, which will then be awarded annually by the AGU. Marilyn Fogel was a highly influential researcher and mentor in the astrobiology community, and succumbed to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, on May 11, 2022.

Click here to see the full list of recipients from the AGU.