Rate My Professor Griet Neukermans

Griet Neukermans is a Research Professor in the Department of Biology at Ghent University, where since 2020 she heads the Marine Optics and Remote Sensing (MarSens) group. She earned her PhD in Physics from the Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale in 2012, with a thesis entitled 'Optical in situ and geostationary satellite-borne observations of suspended particles in coastal waters.' She also holds an MSc in Marine and Lacustrine Science and Management from Vrije Universiteit Brussel (2004) and an MSc in Applied Mathematics from the same institution (2002). Her professional career encompasses prestigious postdoctoral positions, including a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship at Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche-sur-Mer, Sorbonne Université (2017-2019), a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship at Takuvik Joint International Laboratory, Université Laval (2014-2017), and postdoctoral research at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego (2012-2014). Earlier, she served as Research Scientist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (2008-2012), researcher at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (2005-2007), and other roles in marine research.

Neukermans specializes in optical ocean observation technologies, bio-optical sensors, ocean colour remote sensing, BioGeoChemical-Argo floats, and studies of marine carbon cycling, planktonic ecosystem dynamics, and the ocean's biological and carbonate pumps. She is principal investigator of the European Research Council Starting Grant CarbOcean (2021-2028), an integrative approach to unravel the ocean's biological carbon pump. Major awards include the European Research Council Starting Grant (2019), European Commission award for exemplary Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow (2018), Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship, VLIZ best oral presentation award (2016), VLIZ North Sea PhD award (2012), European Commission distinguished poster award (2010), The Oceanography Society Honourable Mention Student Paper award (2008), and VLIZ Young Researcher’s Thesis Award (2004). Key publications encompass 'The open ocean carbonate pump: current quantitative and mechanistic understanding based on remote sensing and in situ observations, observational gaps and future developments' (Earth-Science Reviews, 2023), 'Increased intrusion of warming Atlantic waters leads to rapid expansion of temperate phytoplankton in the Arctic' (Global Change Biology, 2018), 'Optical modeling of spectral backscattering and remote sensing reflectance from Emiliania huxleyi blooms' (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2018), 'Detection of coccolithophore blooms with BioGeoChemical-Argo floats' (Geophysical Research Letters, 2020), and 'Mapping total suspended matter from geostationary satellites: a feasibility study with SEVIRI in the Southern North Sea' (Optics Express, 2009).