Maria Vernet

Maria Vernet is an Argentine-American marine ecologist whose research focuses on phytoplankton and marine ecosystems, particularly in the Arctic and Antarctic. She has been affiliated with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, California, for much of her career, where she currently serves as an emeritus researcher/professor. She attended the University of Washington, where she earned a Master of Science in Biological Oceanography in 1981 and a Ph.D. in the same field in 1983. Her research has examined a wide range of environmental changes affecting polar marine ecosystems. Vernet was a part of one of the earliest research teams to investigate how increased ultraviolet radiation from the Antarctic ozone hole affected marine phytoplankton.

Awards and honors In 2018, Vernet was elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) as a Fellow for Biological Sciences. She was cited for her distinguished contributions to polar marine ecology, especially with regard to polar ice shelf breakup and ice melt.