Maggie Cusack is a Scottish academic and administrator who has been the inaugural president of

Munster Technological University Munster Technological University (MTU; ga, Ollscoil Teicneolaíochta na Mumhan) is a public technological university consisting of six campuses located in Cork and Kerry. The university was established in January 2021, the result of a merger b ...

since 1 January 2021. She was previously Professor of Biomineralisation at the School of Geographical and Earth Sciences at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. Her central research focuses on biominerals (shells, corals and bones.) On Thursday 10 December 2020, it was announced by

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Irish: ''An tAire Breisoideachais agus Ardoideachais, Taighde, Nuálaíochta agus Eolaíochta'') is a senior minister in the Government of Ireland and leads the ...

Simon Harris Simon Harris (born 17 October 1986) is an Irish politician who has served as Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael since 2024. A TD for the Wicklow constituency since 2011, he has served as a minister in the government of Ireland since 2016 and f ...

that Maggie was to become the inaugural president of

once it is founded on 1 January 2021.

Career

Cusack initially studied cell biology and did her doctoral thesis on protein biochemistry, however she is better known as a pioneer of geoscience in applying her discoveries about living organisms to advance understanding of fossils which allows a more accurate and reliable record of climate change. Specifically, her research interests include determining the influence of

ocean acidification Ocean acidification is the reduction in the pH value of the Earth’s ocean. Between 1751 and 2021, the average pH value of the ocean surface has decreased from approximately 8.25 to 8.14. The root cause of ocean acidification is carbon dioxid ...

on marine microbial photosynthesises, biometrics and biominerals in the realm of materials, bone therapies and stem cells. Some of the analytical approaches she employs include scanning electron microscopy; electron backscatter diffraction, synchrotron analyses and stable isotope measurements. Cusack's work has implications not only in that field but in the modern era too, in developing new synthetic materials for use in medicine, engineering and construction. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Select publications

* Fitzer, S., Chung, P., Maccherozzi, F., Dhesi, S. S., Kamenos, N. A., Phoenix, V. R., and Cusack, M. (2016) Biomineral shell formation under ocean acidification: a shift from order to chaos. Scientific Reports, 6, 21076. (doi:10.1038/srep21076) () () * Fitzer, S. C., Vittert, L., Bowman, A., Kamenos, N. A., Phoenix, V. R., and Cusack, M. (2015) Ocean acidification and temperature increase impacts mussel shell shape and thickness: problematic for protection? Ecology and Evolution, 5(21), pp. 4875–4884. (doi:10.1002/ece3.1756) * Freer, A., Bridgett, S., Jiang, J., and Cusack, M. (2014) Biomineral proteins from Mytilus edulis mantle tissue transcriptome. Marine Biotechnology, 16(1), pp. 34–45. (doi:10.1007/s10126-013-9516-1) * Sommerdijk, N. A. J. M., and Cusack, M. (2014) Biomineralization: crystals competing for space. Nature Materials, 13(12), pp. 1078–1079. (doi:10.1038/nmat4147)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cusack, Maggie Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Academics of the University of Glasgow Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scottish mineralogists