Hélène Morlon, born in 1978, is a French mathematician and ecologist specializing in biodiversity computational modeling, identifying the factors that influence the diversification of species and their phenotypic evolution over millions of years. For her work, she was awarded an

Irène Joliot-Curie Prize The Irène Joliot-Curie Prize is a French prize for women in science and technology, founded in 2001. It is awarded by the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, the Airbus, Airbus Group corporate foundation, the French Academy of ...

in 2017.

Biography

In 1995, Hélène Morlon began studying mathematics and physics at the Thiers high school in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

. In 1997, she joined the

École Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay The (; also ENS Paris-Saclay or Paris-Saclay), formerly ENS Cachan, is a grande école and a constituent member of Paris-Saclay University. It was established in 1892. It is located in Gif-sur-Yvette within the Essonne department near Paris ...

in mathematics and obtained the ''

agrégation In France, the () is the most competitive and prestigious examination for civil service in the French public education A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all stu ...

'' in 2000. In 2001, she obtained her DEA in ecology at the Pierre-et-Marie-Curie University and the

École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

(ENS). From 2001 to 2005, she completed a thesis in

ecotoxicology Ecotoxicology is the study of the effects of toxic chemicals on biological organisms, especially at the population biology, population, biological community, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecotoxicology is a multidisciplinary field, ...

at Bordeaux-I University under the supervision of Alain Boudou and Jacqueline Garnier-Laplace. In 2014, she was authorized to direct research by the École Normale Supérieure.

Career

In 2006, Morlon moved to the United States, where she carried out her postdoctoral research. From 2006 to 2007, she worked at the University of California at Merced with engineer Jessica Green. In 2007, she relocated to continue working with Green at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

in the laboratory of

Brendan Bohannan Brendan J. M. Bohannan is an American microbial and evolutionary biologist. He is a professor of Environmental Studies and Biology at the director of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Oregon. He is a contributor to the ...

. In 2009, she worked with Joshua Plotkin at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, and in 2010, she carried out research with Matthew Potts at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. On her return to France in 2010, Morlon was recruited by the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and continued her research at the applied mathematics center of the

École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

. There, she was granted funding from the National Research Agency, Chair of Excellence, and trained a team of young researchers. In June 2011, she became an associate member of the Interdisciplinary Center for Research in Biology at the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

. In September 2013, she was appointed assistant professor at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

. In 2014, she joined the ENS Institute of Biology and obtained a consolidator grant from the

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

. Morlon is an editor for three academic journals (''

PloS Biology ''PLOS Biology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of biology. Publication began on October 13, 2003. It is the first journal published by the Public Library of Science. The editor-in-chief is Nonia Pariente. In ...

'', ''

Ecology Letters ''Ecology Letters'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Wiley and the French National Centre for Scientific Research. Peter H. Thrall is the current editor-in-chief, taking over from Tim Coulson (University of Oxford). The ...

'' and ''

Systematic Biology Systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: phylogenetic trees, phylogenies). Phyl ...

'') and a reviewer for other major publications.

Tree of Life tool

Morlon has also been involved in the development of an online visualization tool demonstrating the tree of life called “onezoom,” which is an interactive map that displays evolutionary connections among many living organisms and highlights species at risk of extinction.

Distinctions and awards

National Center for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 engi ...

bronze medal (2015) *

in the “Young Woman Scientist” category for her work on modeling biodiversity, at the crossroads of mathematics and ecology (2017) *

silver medal (2021) * Chevalier of the National Order of Merit (2021)

References

External links

* Video of her 2016 TED talk in Hamburg titled
Exploring the history of Life
* Site of he
research team
* Site of the online Tree of Life visualization tool named
onezoom
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morlon, Helene 1978 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century French scientists 21st-century French women scientists 21st-century French mathematicians French ecologists Pierre and Marie Curie University alumni 21st-century French women mathematicians Recipients of the Legion of Honour French National Centre for Scientific Research awards French National Centre for Scientific Research scientists University of Arizona faculty