her record of seminal research contributions to marine geophysics and in particular our understanding of continental and oceanic isostasy (the process by which loading on the crust is compensated by the buoyancy of the denser mantle) has had profound implications on our understanding of how the follow of the mantle under different crustal loads affects global changes in sea level and the development of basins at the surface of the earth equally inspiring is her record of accomplishment through scientific leadership: she is a fellow of the american association for the advancement of science (1998) the american geophysical union (agu) (1988) the geological society of america (1998) and the international association of geodesy becoming a renowned leader in science mcnutts academic preparation and early career trajectory laid the foundation for a transformative body of scholarship and transformative leadership within the sciences she earned her ba in physics from colorado college in 1973 followed by her phd in earth sciences from scripps institution of oceanography in 1978 after completing her dissertation work she joined the faculty as a visiting assistant professor at the university of minnesota 1978-1979 she then became a geophysicist at the united states geological survey (usgs) office of earthquake studies 1979-1982 from usgs she joined the faculty at the massachusetts institute of technology (mit) in the department of earth atmospheric and planetary sciences as an assistant professor 1982-1986 followed by associate professor 1986-1989 and then professor 1989-1998 and holder of the griswold professor of geophysics after serving at mit mcnutt became the president/ceo of the monterrey bay aquarium research institute (mbari) from 1997 to 2009 during her tenure at the helm of mbari mcnutt expanded the institutes ability to address the societally compelling high-risk/high-reward and highly interdisciplinary research challenges that traditionally have been difficult to fund through federal agencies dr mcnutt also promoted the mission of mbari as an innovator of technology that could be transferred to the broader oceanographic community in 2009 president obama appointed mcnutt as the director of usgs where she served from 2009 to 2013 her eventful term at the usgs spanned the challenges of the 2010 deepwater horizon tragedy major earthquakes in haiti and chile the california water crisis and the volcanic eruption in iceland that crippled international air travel in 2013 mcnutt assumed the position of editor in chief of the prestigious journal science and in 2016 she moved into her current appointment as the president of the national academy of sciences a distinguished career in addition to her long list of major society fellowships mcnutt also has earned many of the highest honors in geosciences in 1988 she was awarded the macelwane medal by agu for seminal contributions by an early career scholar and in 2007 she was awarded the ewing medal for significant original contributions to the scientific understanding of the processes in the ocean; for the advancement of oceanographic engineering technology and instrumentation; or outstanding service to marine science mcnutt holds honorary degrees from the colorado school of mines (2011) monmouth university (2010) the university of minnesota (2004) and colorado college (1988) watch her full presentation here: by robyn blackmon