Postdoctoral Researcher
Host, MIT Abstracts
Contact fatima at mit dot edu
Biography
2025 – present – Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, MIT
2022-2025 – Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, MIT
2020-2022 – Ph.D. Student, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, MIT
Fellowships and Awards
2024-2025 –Hugh Hampton Young Memorial Fellow
2024 – MIT EAPS Award for Excellence in Teaching
2023-2024– Hugh Hampton Young Memorial Fellow
2023 – MIT Graduate Woman of Excellence
2021 – MIT WISDM Fellow
2021-2022 – John H. Carlson Fellow
2020-2021 – MIT Presidential Fellow
Academic Activties
Fall 2023– Teaching Assistant, 12.385/12.885/11.373
Spring 2023– EAPS Department Lecture Series Committee
Fall 2022– Teaching Assistant, 12.385/12.885/11.373
2020-2025– Host, MIT Abstracts
Research
In my research, I want to decipher the histories preserved in naturally-occurring chemical compounds to improve our understanding of the evolution of complex life and planetary habitability. Before beginning my Ph.D. studies, I earned an M.S. in science writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In the laboratory, I’m most interested in the study of lipid biomarkers in organic geochemistry. In the Summons Lab, I’ve worked on reconstructing the history of environmental change at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania using archeological sediments with Ainara Sistiaga, and I’ve recently focused my attention on sterol lipid biomarkers from Antarctic supraglacial meltwater pools which may give us a glimpse of what Cryogenian eukaryotic refugia may have looked like. I am additionally interested in cyanobacterial pigments, their functions in microbes, and their evolution.
Outside of my studies and research, I conduct science outreach around the country. I’m the host of MIT Abstracts, an international webinar series that connects K-12 students around the word with MIT researchers and experts. When I have the opportunity to wear my reporting hat, I like to work with Possibly, a sustainability science radio show that airs weekly on Rhode Island’s NPR Station, The Public’s Radio.
Alt-Text: Fatima standing among a group of scientists underneath a 26m telescope at the Green Bank Observatory in May 2023 for the Green Bank Blumberg Astrobiology Oxygen in Planetary Biospheres workshop.
Selected Publications and Abstracts (Google Scholar)
Husain, F., Millar, J.L., Jungblut, A.D., Hawes, I., Evans, T.W. and Summons, R.E., 2025. Biosignatures of diverse eukaryotic life from a Snowball Earth analogue environment in Antarctica. Nature Communications, 16(1), pp.1-16.
Magnabosco, C., Husain, F., Paoletti, M.M., Parsons, C., Payette, J.G., Schwartz, S.L., Tamre, E. and Fournier, G.P., 2024. Toward a natural history of microbial life. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 52(1), pp.85-108.
Elling, F. J., Evans, T. W., Nathan, V., Hemingway, J. D., Kharbush, J. J., Bayer, B., Spieck, E., Husain, F., Summons, R. E. And Pearson, A., 2022. Marine and terrestrial nitrifying bacteria are sources of diverse bacteriohopanepolyols. In Geobiology, 00, 1– 22.
Phillips, A.A., Walsh, C.R., Grayson, K.A., Penney, C.E., Husain, F. and Women Doing Science Team, 2022. Diversifying representations of female scientists on social media: A case study from the women doing science instagram. Social Media+ Society, 8(3), p.20563051221113068.
Drozd, J., Husain, F., Izon, G. and Summons, R.E., 2021, December. Regarding the Putative Diagenetic Origins for Neoproterozoic Sponge Steranes. In AGU Fall Meeting 2021. AGU.
Summons, R., Husain, F., Cui, X., Rohret, S., Liu, X., Welander, P., Shen, G. and Bryant, D., 2021, September. Cyanobacterial Aromatic Carotenoids. In IMOG 2021 (Vol. 2021, No. 1, pp. 1-2). European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers.
Husain, F., Mojarro, A., Drozd, J.K. and Summons, R.E., 2021. BIOmarkers: The Oral History of Organic Geochemistry. Goldschmidt 2021.
Sistiaga, A., Husain, F., Uribelarrea, D., Martín-Perea, D.M., Ferland, T., Freeman, K.H., Diez-Martín, F., Baquedano, E., Mabulla, A., Domínguez-Rodrigo, M. and Summons, R.E., 2020. Microbial biomarkers reveal a hydrothermally active landscape at Olduvai Gorge at the dawn of the Acheulean, 1.7 Ma. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(40), pp.24720-24728.
Cui, X., Liu, X.L., Shen, G., Ma, J., Husain, F., Rocher, D., Zumberge, J.E., Bryant, D.A. and Summons, R.E., 2020. Niche expansion for phototrophic sulfur bacteria at the Proterozoic–Phanerozoic transition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(30), pp.17599-17606.
Sistiaga, A., Husain, F., Uribelarrea, D., Martín-Perea, D.M., Ferland, T., Freeman, K.H., Diez-Martín, F., Baquedano, E., Mabulla, A., Domínguez-Rodrigo, M. and Summons, R.E., 2019, September. Organic geochemical perspectives on hydrothermalism at Olduvai gorge, 1.7 Mya. In 29th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry (Vol. 2019, No. 1, pp. 1-2). European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers.
Husain, F. and Marks, G.S., 2018, December. Learn Locally: Showcasing Local Scientific Research through Scientist-Science Writer Collaborations. In AGU Fall Meeting 2018. AGU.
Husain, F., Longo, W.M., Daniels, W., Russell, J.M., Giblin, A.E. and Huang, Y., 2018, December. High-resolution 10,000-year temperature reconstructions from Lake Fog2, northern Alaska. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts (Vol. 2018, pp. PP31E-1703).
Husain, F., Longo, W.M., Daniels, W., Russell, J.M., Giblin, A.E. and Huang, Y., 2017. A 10,000 Year Record of Arctic Temperature Variability During the Holocene Inferred From Lipid Biomarkers in Lacustrine Sediments from Northern Alaska. In Geological Society of America Abstracts (Vol. 49, pp.2017NE-291520).