Miriam Kastner

Miriam attended the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1964

Miriam Kastner (born January 22, 1935)^[1] is an American oceanographer and geochemist. Kastner is currently a Distinguished Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.

Education

As a child, Miriam Kastner had originally wanted to be a mathematician, she had later decided down the road that, math was not the career for her. Miriam had noticed that not many women were scientists in her early life, which had inspired her to research further about the different sciences.^[2] Miriam attended the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1964 and received her M.S degree in Geology.

Research career

Over the course of her career Miriam has progressed from being an associate professor, to a professor, and now a distinguished professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Kastner has worked with the Scripps Institution from 1972 till present. Previously to educating at Scripps Institution, Miriam worked as a Research Associate at Harvard University in the Department of Geological Sciences until 1970. In 1971 she worked at the University of Chicago as a Research Associate in the Department of Geophysical Sciences. Along with being a professor, Miriam has served many roles at Scripps Institution of Oceanography including Chair and Vice Chair of the faculty, Associate Director and Director in the Geosciences Research Division, Chair of Academic Senate Committee on Research, as well as Curricular Group Coordinator of Geological Sciences.^[3]

Miriam Kastner’s accomplished many things throughout her entire career but much of what she has achieved came from the earlier part of her career when she put her talents to work and directed her focus on the origin of authigenic feldspars, she also focused on zeolites in the oceanic sediments during that time. With the oceanic sediments she determined that the diagenetic transformations of opal-A to opal-CT and quartz is important to the formation of siliceous marine deposits. Kastner also found that dolomite formation is ultimately controlled by its associated pore-fluid geochemistry. The discovery solved an outstanding problem in carbonate mineral science. Kastner's measurements of the Sr distribution coefficient was critical in building strontium concentrations in calcite, which was ultimately used for paleoclimate studies that are dependent on carbonate Sr proxies, the discovery also was used for indicating carbonate recrystallization. Kastner also worked vigorously on phosphate deposits, her work included a revision of the stability of P-O bonds in apatite and phosphate ions, after the revision there was a recalculation of the ocean residence time of phosphorus.^[4]

Research Interests and Expertise

Miriam Kastner is a marine geochemist. Her research expertise is on the fluctuation of fluids at plate boundaries, specifically where two plates meet to cause earthquakes and at ridge-crests where hypothermal deposits are found. Kastner’s work is based on numerous studies, including the following:

• Long-term monitoring in observatories of marine gas hydrates and implications for climate change, slope stability, and ocean chemistry
• On the oceanic contribution of methane to the atmosphere
• Chemical paleoceanography: establishing new marine phases based on the ocean's geological history.^[5]
• Sediment geochemical and diagenetic processes with emphasis on marine authigenic minerals like phosphates, silicates, carbonates^[6]

The Role of Women in Science

After realizing her talents, Miriam knew she wanted to pursue a career in the science department. Her ambitious and confident demeanor led to her success in a male dominated industry. During her time at Harvard, she was the only female student for three years. She had to fight to gain respect among her peers because women were not taken seriously at that point in time. She faced this and many other obstacles, including the lack of access to funds for her research studies, all due to her gender. Miriam continued to persevere, eventually becoming the second female professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the first woman in the institutes Geoscience Research Division.^[2] The contribution of women to science has grown tremendously since Miriam first began her career, but there is still more room to grow.^[7]

Awards and Honors

• Guggenheim Fellow (1982)^[8]
• Charles R. Bennett Service through Chemistry Award, American Chemical Society (1984)^[9]
• Ocean Science Education Award, Office of Naval Research (1991)^[10]
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (1993)^[11]
• Fellow, American Geophysical Union (1997)^[12]
• Fellow, Geochemical Society and European Association of Geochemistry (1998)^[13]
• Hans Petterson Medal, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1999)^[10]
• Fellow, Geological Society of America (2004)^[14]
• Maurice Ewing Medal, American Geophysical Union (2008)^[15]
• Fellow, International Association of GeoChemistry (2010)^[16]
• Francis Shepard Medal for Excellence in Marine Geology, Society for Sedimentary Geology (2011)^[17]
• V. M. Goldshmidt Award, Geochemical Society (2015)^[18]

References