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Professor Roger Summons
Bachelor of Science - 1969
PhD - 1972
Wollongong graduate Professor Roger Summons has been made a Fellow of the Royal Society – the prestigious London-based scientific organisation established nearly 350 years ago.
Professor Summons has been Professor of Geobiology at the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 2001.
The Royal Society was established in 1660 during the reign of King Charles II, and ever since has been at the forefront of scientific research. This year it awarded 44 Fellowships to leading scientists from around the world.
Announcing Professor Summons’ Fellowship, the Royal Society described him as “the leading organic geochemist studying the molecular record of the earth's early biosphere”, adding “his work on molecular fossils has provided a detailed picture of microbial ecologies which controlled the biogeochemical cycles of Archaean palaeoenvironments before visible fossils became widespread”.
Professor Summons was awarded BSc (1969) and PhD (1972) degrees in Chemistry from Wollongong University College (then part of the University of NSW before UOW gained its autonomy in 1975), completing his doctoral research under Professor Emery Gellert.
Toward the end of his studies, he was inspired to specialise in mass spectrometry by the research work of Bert Halpern, who was Foundation Professor of Chemistry at UOW. Professor Summons says this particular connection laid the foundation for a rewarding and successful career in scientific research.
“My degrees do say UNSW, but it’s the Wollongong campus I feel connected to,” Professor Summons said. “I studied under Professors Emery Gellert and later Bert Halpern, and was honoured to receive the Bert Halpern Medal from the Chemistry Department a few years ago.”
Prior to taking up his appointment at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Summons was based in Canberra at the Australian Geological Survey Organisation, formerly known as the Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics.
Professor Summons also undertook postdoctoral research at Stanford University and at the Australian National University, was elected to the Australian Academy of Science in 1998 and awarded the prestigious Treibs Medal from the Geochemical Society for 2003.