Marilyn Suiter

Marilyn J. Suiter was a geologist whose professional career has spanned teaching, working the oil and gas industry and public services. In her leadership roles at both the American Geosciences Institute and the National Science Foundation, Suiter worked over decades to increase the ethnic diversity of the geosciences. She died in August 2025.

Background Suiter started her undergraduate studies at Franklin & Marshall College as a Physics major and switched to geosciences because she found the interdisciplinary nature of geology more challenging and satisfying. After earning her BS degree, Suiter taught sciences for grades 5–12 in the Philadelphia public school system (1970-1977). She worked for the United States Geological Survey for four years before starting her MS studies at Wesleyan University. At the American Geosciences Institute, Suiter also led the Minority Participation Program, which was created to address the lack of ethnic diversity in the geosciences and which awards scholarships to under-represented American geoscience students every year.

Since Suiter started working for the National Science Foundation in 1998, she has led several programs within NSF that foster geosciences education and diversity. Suiter currently serves as a program director in NSF's Division of Human Resource Development.

Service to the Discipline of Geosciences Over her career, Suiter has served on numerous committees and panels of the Association for Women Geoscientists, the American Geosciences Institute, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union, the National Science Foundation, the American Institute of Physics, the Association for Women in Science, the National Science Teaching Association, the National Association of Black Geologists and Geophysicists, and the American Educational Research Association.

Suiter's conference presentations and peer-reviewed papers address issues of geosciences education as well as diversity and inclusion within the geosciences. These include:

Honors

2018 Geological Society of America Distinguished Service Award 2007 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 1994 Association of Women Geoscientists Distinguished Service Award 1988 President of the Association for Women Geoscientists Fellow of the Association for Women in Science