Bess B. Ward

Dr. Bess B. Ward is the William J. Sinclair Professor of Geosciences at Princeton University. Ward is a biological oceanographer whose work unites the fields of microbiology and geochemistry. She is known for her sustained and substantial influence on the field of marine microbiology over the course of her career. Ward's research centers on the biogeochemistry of nitrogen in the marine environment, with nitrification as a major and continuing theme in her work. Nitrification is a topic that has seen many important developments in recent years, and Ward continues to make strides in this area through the study of nitrogen cycling in low-oxygen regions of the world ocean. Ward’s other research interests include methane oxidation and nitrogen utilization by phytoplankton. Her signature approach combines biogeochemical approaches, typified by the use of stable isotopes to quantify the rates of nitrogen cycle processes, with molecular biological methods in order to link the rates of important transformations with the microbes that are responsible for them. Through her research, Ward has provided exceptional mentoring to her students and post-docs, many of whom have significant careers of their own. Ward has also been honored with fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Geophysical Union, in addition to her American Academy of Arts and Sciences membership. In 1997, she was the first woman and the youngest person to receive the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Medal from the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography. She has also been recognized with the Procter & Gamble Award in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Who's Who in American University Teachers, the Samuel A. Waxman Honorary Lectureship of the Theobald Smith Society, the Rachel Carson Award Lecture of the American Geophysical Union, and the Chemical Oceanography H. Burr Steinbach Scholar Award. Bess has authored over 100 book chapters and research papers published in journals such as Environmental Microbiology, Nature, and Sciences, has edited numerous volumes, and has served on journal editorial boards.