Susan Brantley, professor of geosciences and director of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, was selected to receive the inaugural Dr. Hubert Barnes and Dr. Mary Barnes Professorship in Geosciences.
“Hu Barnes is one of the most well renowned and highly regarded geochemists in the world,” Brantley said. “I hope I can live up to his example of excellent science.”
The Barnes’ gift represents the first endowed professorship in geosciences. It joins an early career professorship already established in the department—the Rudy L. Slingerland Early Career Professor of Geosciences.
Brantley is a world leader in studying the chemical, physical and biological interactions that occur between rock, water, air, and living organisms in the thin layer of earth known as the critical zone. The critical zone extends from the tallest trees to the deepest groundwater and the complex reactions that happen there impact life-sustaining resources like food production and water quality.
Brantley received a bachelor of arts in chemistry, a master of arts in geological and geophysical sciences, and a doctorate in geological and geophysical sciences, all from Princeton University.
“Susan Brantley is an exceptional scientist and leader, and this professorship is a well-deserved recognition,” said Lee Kump, John Leone Dean. “It is fitting that Hu Barnes, another remarkable geoscientist, and his late wife Mary made this position possible. We thank the Barnes family for their tremendous generosity.”
“I was genuinely happy to have both Hu’s and Mary’s names as part of this professorship,” Brantley said. “I was the first woman to get tenure in geosciences at Penn State, so having ‘Dr. Mary Barnes’ in the name feels right. And Hu Barnes was the doctoral adviser for my doctoral adviser, David Crerar. This truly brings my career full circle.”