Isabel Montañez

Isabel P. Montañez is a Distinguished Professor and Chancellor’s Leadership Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of California, Davis. A prominent figure in Geoscience, she earned a B.A. in Geology from Bryn Mawr College in 1981 and a Ph.D. in Geoscience from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1989. Following her doctorate, she worked as a field geologist and museum technician at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. Montañez began her academic career as Assistant Professor of Geology at the University of California, Riverside in 1990, was promoted to Associate Professor in 1995, and joined the University of California, Davis in 1998, progressing through the ranks to her current distinguished position.

Montañez is renowned as a sedimentary geochemist and paleoclimatologist. Her research employs an interdisciplinary, multi-proxy approach to reconstruct past climates, including atmospheric CO₂ concentrations, paleotemperatures, hydroclimate variability, and Earth system interactions during deep-time perturbations such as the Late Paleozoic Ice Age, greenhouse-to-icehouse transitions, and oceanic anoxic events. She has produced hundreds of peer-reviewed publications, including highly influential works like “CO₂ as a primary driver of Phanerozoic climate,” “The Late Paleozoic ice age: an evolving paradigm,” and “A Late Paleozoic climate window of opportunity” (2016). Among her major honors are the Geological Society of America’s Arthur L. Day Medal (2023), election to the National Academy of Sciences (2021), the Francis J. Pettijohn Medal for Sedimentology (2021), the UC Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement (2021), the Athena Award for Academic Leadership (2025), Guggenheim Fellowship (2011), AGU Fellowship (2020), AAAS Fellowship (2012), and Geochemical Fellowship (2016). She served as President of the Geological Society of America (2017–2018), Chair of the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources at the National Academies, and Director of the UC Davis Institute of the Environment (2021–2025).

Professional Email: ipmontanez@ucdavis.edu