Rate My Professor Mary Schweitzer

Mary Schweitzer is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biological Sciences at North Carolina State University, where her work exemplifies excellence in Biology. She concurrently serves as Research Curator of Paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and Associate Researcher at the Museum of the Rockies, Montana State University. Schweitzer earned her B.S. in Communicative Disorders from Utah State University in 1977 and her Ph.D. in Biology from Montana State University in 1995. She began her tenure at North Carolina State University in 2003, initially in the Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, later transitioning to Biological Sciences. Her research leadership includes directing the molecular paleontology group, Digging Deeper, which explores ancient biomolecules.

Schweitzer's main academic interests lie in molecular paleontology, specifically the preservation, detection, and analysis of endogenous soft tissues, blood vessels, cells, proteins, hemoglobin, and other molecular signals in exceptionally preserved fossils, particularly Mesozoic non-avian dinosaurs and their bird descendants. Her investigations cover molecular diagenesis and taphonomy, environmental factors in fossil preservation, physiological and reproductive strategies in dinosaurs, feather and vascular taphonomy, and astrobiology applications for detecting life signatures. Landmark publications include "Soft-tissue vessels and cellular preservation in Tyrannosaurus rex" (Science, 2005), "Analyses of soft tissue from Tyrannosaurus rex suggest the presence of protein" (Science, 2007), "Protein sequences from mastodon and Tyrannosaurus rex revealed by mass spectrometry" (Science, 2007), "Biomolecular characterization and protein sequences of the Campanian hadrosaur Brachylophosaurus canadensis" (Science, 2009), "Soft tissue preservation in terrestrial Mesozoic vertebrates" (Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 2011), "A role for iron and oxygen chemistry in preserving soft tissues, cells and molecules from deep time" (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2014), "Paleontology in the 21st Century" (Biology, 2023), and "Resonance Raman confirms partial haemoglobin preservation in dinosaur remains" (Proceedings of the Royal Society A, 2025). These contributions have pioneered molecular approaches in paleontology, profoundly influencing evolutionary biology, vertebrate taxonomy, and fossil science.