Amy Leventer is an American

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

researcher and academic specialising in

micropaleontology Micropaleontology (American spelling; spelled micropalaeontology in European usage) is the branch of paleontology (palaeontology) that studies microfossils, or fossils that require the use of a microscope to see the organism, its morphology and ...

, with specific research interests in marine geology,

marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and ...

, and

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. Since 1983, Leventer has participated in over 25 scientific research expeditions to Antarctica.

Early life and education

Leventer grew up in

Framingham Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The city proper covers with a popula ...

, Massachusetts, and

Congers Congers is a suburban hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Clarkstown, Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located north of Valley Cottage, east of New City, across Lake DeForest, south of Haverstraw, and west of the H ...

, New York. As a child she collected seashells, pebbles, insects, leaves and flowers. She always tried to organise things by what they looked like and order the items that she saw around her. Leventer attended

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

to study a Bachelors of science in aquatic biology in 1979, followed by a Masters at the

University of South Carolina The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...

in 1982 and a PhD in geology from

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

in 1988.

Career and impact

Leventer started her post-doctoral research at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

(1989–92) where she received the Byrd Postdoctoral Fellowship, and she continued with research and teaching appointments at Otterbein College (1990–94) and the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

(1994–97). She was appointed a Visiting Assistant Professor at

Colgate University Colgate University is a Private university, private college in Hamilton, New York, United States. The Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York ...

in 1997, promoted to Associate Professor in 2003 and to Full Professor in 2013. She served as Chair of the Department of Geology from 2009 to 2012 and is currently the chair of Colgate's Research Council. Her teaching impact has been recognised by nomination for the

Phi Eta Sigma Phi Eta Sigma () is an American freshman honor society. Founded at the University of Illinois in 1923, it is the oldest and largest freshman honor society. It is a member of the Association of College Honor Societies. History Phi Eta Sigma was f ...

student award on three occasions, and she has mentored more than 50 research and independent study students. Leventer specialises in

marine geology Marine geology or geological oceanography is the study of the history and structure of the ocean floor. It involves geophysical, Geochemistry, geochemical, Sedimentology, sedimentological and paleontological investigations of the ocean floor and ...

biological oceanography Biological oceanography is the study of how organisms affect and are affected by the physics, chemistry, and geology of the oceanographic system. Biological oceanography may also be referred to as ocean ecology, in which the root word of ecology ...

, and

paleoclimatology Paleoclimatology ( British spelling, palaeoclimatology) is the scientific study of climates predating the invention of meteorological instruments, when no direct measurement data were available. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of ...

. Her research involves the study of

over geological time through analysis of the sedimentary fossil record from Antarctica, where she has travelled many times since 1983. She was Chief Scientist on a 2014 international research cruise to Antarctica to evaluate the recent and longer-term behavior of glacial systems. Among almost 50 scientific publications, Leventer has three co-authored articles in the prestigious journal Nature.

Awards and honors

* 1998: Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Queen's University, Kingston Canada * 1989: Byrd Postdoctoral Fellowship, Byrd Polar Research Center, Ohio State University * 2019: Goldthwait Polar Medal

Selected works

* Leventer, Amy, et al. "Productivity cycles of 200–300 years in the Antarctic Peninsula region: understanding linkages among the sun, atmosphere, oceans, sea ice, and biota." ''Geological Society of America Bulletin'' 108.12 (1996): 1626–1644. * Smith, Raymond C., et al. "Marine Ecosystem Sensitivity to Climate Change Historical observations and paleoecological records reveal ecological transitions in the Antarctic Peninsula region." ''BioScience'' 49.5 (1999): 393–404. * Leventer, Amy. et al., "Marine sediment record from the East Antarctic margin reveals dynamics of ice sheet recession." "GSA Today" 16.12 (2006): 4-10. * Mackintosh, Andrew, et al., "Retreat history of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet since the Last Glacial Maximum." "Quaternary Science Reviews" 100.15 (2014): 10–30.

References

External links

Amy Leventer's webpage

Amy Leventer
on

Google scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of Academic publishing, scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in Beta release, beta in November 2004, th ...

Amy Leventer
on

ResearchGate ResearchGate is a European commercial social networking site for scientists and researchers to share papers, ask and answer questions, and find collaborators. According to a 2014 study by ''Nature'' and a 2016 article in ''Times Higher Education' ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leventer, Amy American women scientists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American Antarctic scientists Women Antarctic scientists Rice University alumni Micropaleontologists University of South Carolina alumni Brown University alumni 21st-century American women