冈本视频 geology professor has led field expeditions to Alaska鈥檚 North Pacific coast, the Australian outback, and Mongolia鈥檚 Gobi Desert that have yielded new insights into novel ecologic relationships in ancient reefs and how past environmental transformations help predict global change in reef communities today.
In recognition of her work, Soja, a member of the Denison University class of 1979, was recently honored by her alma mater with an alumni citation, the highest honor bestowed upon a graduate or friend of the college.
The National Science Foundation, National Academy of Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Keck Geology Consortium have granted funding for Soja鈥檚 global research on fossil reefs.
In the Ural Mountains and Siberia, she and her U.S. and Russian colleagues established the first-ever documented links between the geology of Russia and southeastern Alaska. With 冈本视频 students, she also has published research on dinosaur eggs and the conditions that favored their preservation in the fossil record. She is completing a book on 鈥淭he Last Good Buy: Evolution in the New Age of Extinction鈥 to focus attention on endangered species around the world.
Soja teaches courses on evolution; paleontology; Darwin and the Victorian Age of Discovery, with field trips in the United Kingdom; a seminar on reefs that includes a field course in the Bahamas or Australia鈥檚 Great Barrier Reef; and a first-year seminar on 鈥淭he Sixth Extinction鈥 or modern biodiversity crisis. She offers science education workshops on biomimicry to high school teachers and on dinosaurs to elementary school teachers and their students. She also has directed 冈本视频鈥檚 study abroad programs in England, Wales, and Australia and has conducted research with nearly 50 冈本视频 and other undergraduate students. Soja鈥檚 findings have appeared in dozens of publications and shared in many professional conference talks.
In addition to her bachelor鈥檚 degree, Soja earned her doctorate in paleontology from the University of Oregon in 1985. She is past-president of the Paleontological Research Institution and associate editor of the paleontology journal Palaios. At 冈本视频, she was recognized as a Presidential Scholar, University Professor, was selected as 冈本视频鈥檚 Professor of the Year in 2007, and is a Smithsonian lecturer for its travel abroad programs.