Rachel Foster PhD

Dr. Rachel A. Foster spent several years exploring the California coast prior to volunteering on her first oceanographic research cruise to the Western Tropical North Atlantic. It was an experience that set her on track to applying and continuing her studies in Marine Science. She later received a MSc in Marine and Environmental Biology (1996-2000) and a PhD in Coastal Oceanography (2000-2004) from Stony Brook University, USA.

After her PhD work, Dr. Foster spent several years as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC; 2004-2010) in the laboratory of Professor Jonathan P. Zehr leading research on microbial ecology of diazotrophic cyanobacteria. During her time at UCSC she received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for research and an educational sub-grant from the Center of Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education (C-MORE; 2008).

In 2010, Dr. Foster was recruited to the Biogeochemistry Department of the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany as a Lead Scientist and the facility manager for the nanoSIMS 50L. In 2013, Foster was sponsored by the Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences of Stockholm University and later selected as a Wallenberg Academy Fellow to lead research on planktonic symbioses.