Joel Kostka receives Humboldt Research Award

Joel Kostka is a professor at the School of Biological Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, USA. He has been awardedthe prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Award in recognition of his outstanding accomplishments in research and teaching to date. As part of theaward, which is endowed with 80,000 euros, he will undertake a research project together with researchers in Germany. Kostka will carry out this project in cooperation with Prof Dr Marcel Kuypers from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany.

“I would like to offer my congratulations on this exceptional achievement”, wrote said the President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Prof. Dr Robert Schlögl, in a statement.. “(It will) contribute to the promotion of scientific cooperation between research institutions in both countries.”

Investigating marine plant microbiomes in the face of climate change

Kostka bridges biogeochemistry and microbiology to elucidate the role of microorganisms in ecosystem function. He takes a leading role in ecosystem biogeoscience, providing a quantitative predictive understanding of how ecosystems function as well as determining the mechanisms by which environmental changes alter ecosystem resilience. Together with Marcel Kuypers from the Max Planck Institute in Bremen, Kostka will assess the role of marine plant microbiomes in coastal marine ecosystem health and resilience to climate change.