Farooq Azam

Through work in his lab measuring and characterizing microbial growth rates in the sea and small scale interactions, Azam is mainly responsible for showing that marine bacteria consume about half of marine productivity, via the microbial loop. This discovery fundamentally contributed to the fields of ecology, oceanography, and biogeochemistry. He has received the Rosenstiel Medal in Oceanography, the Hutchinson Medal and the John Martin Award from the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, the Tiedje Award from the International Society for Microbial Ecology, and D.C. White Research and Mentoring Award from the American Society for Microbiology.