Dianne Newman

Dianne Newman is a molecular microbiologist, a professor in the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering and the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at California Institute of Technology. Her research interests include bioenergetics and cell biology of metabolically diverse, genetically-tractable bacteria. Her work deals with electron-transfer reactions that are part of the metabolism of microorganisms.

She was awarded the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Award in Molecular Biology for her "discovery of microbial mechanisms underlying geologic processes." The award citation recognizes her for "launching the field of molecular geomicrobiology" and fostering greater awareness of the important roles microorganisms have played and continue to play in how Earth evolved. In 2025, she was elected to the American Philosophical Society.

She was one of the recipients of the 2016 MacArthur Fellowships. She received her BA from Stanford University in 1993 and received her Ph.D. under Francois Morel at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1997. She was a postdoctoral fellow under Roberto Kolter at Harvard Medical School (1998–2000). In 1999, she was named one of the Top Innovators Under 35 by the MIT Technology Review, and she joined the faculty at the California Institute of Technology in 2000.

Her laboratory at Caltech is interested in the co-evolution of life and Earth. Specifically, they take an interdisciplinary approach to studying the molecular mechanisms that underlie ancient forms of metabolism. By understanding the way extant organisms function at the molecular level, they hope eventually to gain insights into the evolution of ancient metabolic and biomineralization pathways, interpret the chemical signatures of early life found in the geologic record, and understand how multicellular bacterial communities survive in the context of infection, particularly the mucus-filled lungs of individuals living with cystic fibrosis.

Awards and recognition Fellow of MacArthur Fellows Program, 2016 NAS Award in Molecular Biology, 2016 Elected Member, National Academy of Sciences, 2019