Dr. Mary K. Firestone is a professor in the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a soil microbial ecologist who has worked extensively on the roles of microorganisms in terrestrial system function. She is known for her work on microbial mediation of nitrogen oxidation and reduction processes, including control of nitrous oxide and nitric oxide production, adaptation of microbes to dry arid and semi-arid soils, including microbial production of EPS matrices and compatible solutes, and the microbial ecology of the rhizosphere. Firestone earned a B.S. and M.S. in microbiology from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. in soil science. She joined the faculty at Berkeley in 1979, where she has been active in faculty governance, including as chair of the faculty senate in 2008. She has mentored more than 75 graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.                                              
Firestone’s work has been recognized by a range of disciplines, reflecting the breadth of her research. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, Soil Science Society of America, Ecological Society of America and the American Geophysical Union and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Firestone’s research currently addresses cross-domain interactions underpinning carbon, nitrogen and water exchange among roots and soil organisms; the microbial ecology of dry soil; and the roles of microbes in soil organic matter formation and persistence. Her research has brought to bear expertise in soil science, microbiology, biogeochemistry, ecosystem science and community ecology to globally important questions underpinning climate change, sustainability, land use change and environmental contamination.