Stephen Joseph Giovannoni is an American microbiologist whose research mainly focuses on marine microbes. He is a fellow of the

American Academy of Microbiology The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It wa ...

and a founding co-

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

of the ''

Annual Review of Marine Science The ''Annual Review of Marine Science'' is an annual peer-reviewed scientific review journal published by Annual Reviews. It was established in 2009. It covers all aspects of marine science. The co-editors are Craig A. Carlson and Stephen J. G ...

''.

Early life and education

Stephen Joseph Giovannoni was born in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

to parents Laura and Paul Giovannoni. He was one of four children, with two brothers and a sister. He was interested in the ocean from a young age, and spent much time surfing and sailing due to his proximity to

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

. He attended the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

for his bachelor's degree in biology, graduating in 1974. He then graduated from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

with his master's degree in biology in 1978; he attended the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

for his PhD, also in biology, graduating in 1984.

Career

Following his PhD, he conducted post-doctoral research with

Norman R. Pace Norman Richard Pace Jr. (born 1942) is an American biochemist, and is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado. He is principal investigator at the Pace lab. Early life and ...

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

from 1984 to 1988. In 1988, he joined the faculty of

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 1993 and full professor in 1999. From 2000 to 2004 he was the director of the Molecular and Cellular Biology Program. He has been a Distinguished Professor at Oregon State since 2012. He is an adjunct faculty member with the

Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences The Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (known as BIOS) is an independent, non-profit marine science and education institute located in Ferry Reach, St. George's, Bermuda, St. George's, Bermuda. The institute, founded in 1903 as the Bermuda Bio ...

and

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) is a private, non-profit oceanographic research center in Moss Landing, California. MBARI was founded in 1987 by David Packard, and is primarily funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation ...

. In 2020 he became the head of the Oregon State University Department of Microbiology. Giovannoni's research has included the

oceanic carbon cycle The oceanic carbon cycle (or marine carbon cycle) is composed of processes that exchange carbon between various pools within the ocean as well as between the atmosphere, Earth interior, and the seafloor. The carbon cycle is a result of many inter ...

marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies s ...

, the diversity and

genomics Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, three-dim ...

of marine microbes, and

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 ...

. He founded and directs Oregon State's High Throughput Culturing Laboratory. In 2009 he was a founding co-

of the ''

''; he is still co-editor as of 2021. He has also served on the editorial committees of ''

mBio ''mBio'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed open access scientific journal published by the American Society for Microbiology in association with the American Academy of Microbiology. It covers all aspects of the microbiological sciences, including vir ...

'', ''

The ISME Journal ''The ISME Journal: Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers diverse and integrated areas of microbial ecology spanning the breadth of microbial life, including bacteria, archaea, microb ...

'', and ''

Environmental Microbiology A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

''.

Awards and honors

In 1997 he was elected as a fellow of the

. He received the J. Roger Porter Award from the American Academy of Microbiology and Jim Tiedje Award from the

International Society for Microbial Ecology The International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME) is the principal scientific society for the burgeoning field of microbial ecology and its related disciplines. ISME is a non-profit association and is owner of the International Symposia on Mi ...

in 2012. He is the

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

of the bacteria species '' Aquisphaera giovannonii'', which was described in 2011.

Personal life

He married Katharine G. Field in 1982. He is currently married to Kimberly .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giovannoni, Stephen J Living people People from San Francisco University of California, San Diego alumni Boston University alumni University of Oregon alumni Oregon State University faculty American microbiologists Year of birth missing (living people) Annual Reviews (publisher) editors