Maria Denise Dearing is an American ecological physiologist and mammalogist. As a distinguished professor at the University of Utah, Dearing's research has focused on animals and toxic diets and diseases.

Early life and education

Dearing was raised in Pennsylvania and Connecticut. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree at Eastern Connecticut State University and her Master of Science degree at the University of Vermont before moving to the University of Utah to complete her PhD with Phyllis Coley. While studying at the University of Utah, Dearing was the recipient of the 1993 Association for Women in Science award and a

Fulbright scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

to study in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Following her PhD, Dearing accepted an National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin–Madison where she began studying woodrats.

Career

Following her PhD and postdoctoral fellowship, Dearing joined the faculty at the University of Utah. Upon joining the faculty, she spearheaded a daycare program that the biology department sponsored for its faculty members. In October 1999, Dearing was a member of a research team that explored how atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide drive changes in the Earth's climate and impact the planet's ecology. Following this, she was part of the first research team to devise the theory that off-roading had a direct impact of hantavirus in rats. Her research team trapped rodents from rat middens in the West Tintic Mountains and found that deer mice had a 30 percent infection rate for hantavirus. Dearing replicated this study in 2009 with eight packrats captured from the Mojave Desert and the Great Basin. Her research team then scanned the rodents to look for active genes that produce liver enzymes to detoxify the poisons in creosote and the less-toxic juniper. As a result of her research, Dearing accepted a National Science Foundation grant in 2013 to study the Earth's biodiversity. In 2014, Dearing was named chair of the Department of Biology and was recognized by the

American Society of Mammalogists The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammals, and professions studying them. There are over 4,500 members of this society, and they are primarily professional scientists ...

with its

C. Hart Merriam Clinton Hart Merriam (December 5, 1855 – March 19, 1942) was an American zoologist, mammalogist, ornithologist, entomologist, ecologist, ethnographer, geographer, naturalist and physician. He was commonly known as the 'father of mammalogy', a ...

Award for her "transformative and cross-disciplinary research on the ecological factors and physiological constraints that influence how mammals such as woodrats forage for food and evolve the ability to eat a wide range of plants, including those that contain toxic substances." While serving as chair, Dearing also received the 2018 Joseph Grinnell Award for her contributions to the integration of education and research in mammalogy. In 2021, Dearing was elected a fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

for her research and contributions to nutritional ecology and disease ecology. Following this, she accepted a visiting Alexander von Humboldt Foundation fellowship at the Max Planck Institute.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dearing, Denise Living people American mammalogists American physiologists Scientists from Salt Lake City University of Utah faculty Eastern Connecticut State University alumni University of Utah alumni Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Year of birth missing (living people)