Dr. Paula Welander 
Faculty, Earth System Science, Stanford University 

Dr. Paula Welander is a microbiologist who also teaches earth sciences. Not surprisingly, she starts with the question, “How is it that a microbiologist is working in the earth sciences?” Dr. Welander’s field is geobiology which, as its name implies, looks at the interface between geology and biology. She notes that microbial life has dominated Earth for billions of years. Her presentation goes on to discuss her research in trying to determine how microbial life survived billions of years ago, during an era when there was a very different environment that, for example, contained very little oxygen. 

Recorded: April 1, 2016