Susanna Porter

Professor, Vice Chair, and Faculty Graduate Advisor Department of Earth Science
Associate Director, Earth Research Institute

UC Santa Barbara

Susannah received her bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Yale University in 1995 and her Ph.D. in Biology at Harvard University in 2002. After completing a one-year NASA Astrobiology Post-Doctoral Fellowship at UCLA, she moved to the University of California at Santa Barbara, where she is Professor, Vice Chair, and Faculty Graduate Advisor in the Department of Earth Science, and Associate Director of UCSB’s Earth Research Institute. She studies the rise of complex life, from the fossils of early eukaryotes to the first widespread appearance of skeletal animals. She is a member of her Department’s Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee and has worked to introduce holistic review in both graduate admissions and faculty searches. She is a Fellow of the Paleontological Society and a recipient of UCSB’s Distinguished Teaching Award.