Fatima Husain
Fatima Husain

Ph.D. Candidate in Geology, Geochemistry, and Geobiology at MIT | 2020 - present

  • GPA: 5.0/5.0

  • Co-Chair of the 2024 Organic Geochemistry Gordon Research Seminar

  • MIT Hugh Hampton Young Fellow

  • MIT Graduate Woman of Excellence

  • Discussion Leader at 2022 Organic Geochemistry Gordon Research Seminar

  • Teaching Assistant for Fall 2022 | 12.885: Science, Politics, and Environmental Policy

  • MIT EAPS John H. Carlson Fellow

  • MIT Presidential Fellow

  • MIT WISDM Fellow

  • Host and co-founder of BIOmarkers series archiving the oral history of organic geochemistry

Summons Lab for Geobiology and Astrobiology | 2018 - present

  • Projects:

    • Characterizing eukaryotic biomarkers from Antarctic meltwater ponds

    • Human gut microbiome lipid analysis by gas chromatography - mass spectrometry

    • Isotopic characterization of major cyanobacterial lipid biomarkers

    • Environmental reconstruction of Greenland Viking environments

  • Skills: Lipid biomarker analysis of modern and ancient sediments for paleoenvironmental reconstruction with GC-QQQ-MS, GC-MSD, GC-FID, GC-C-IRMS, LC-MS, and LC-QToF-MS

Fournier Lab for Molecular Phylogenomics and Microbial Evolution | 2020 - present

  • Projects:

    • The History of Aerobic Respiration

    • Evolutionary History of Cyanobacterial Lipids

  • Skills: Tree construction and molecular clock analysis employing BLAST, MAFFT, IQTREE, minimal ancestor deviation (MAD) rooting, Phylobayes

Sc.B. in Geology - Chemistry with Honors | 2017

  • Voss Environmental Fellow | 2016-2017

  • Susan Pilch Friedman Award | 2017

  • President of the Department of Geology Undergraduate Student Group