Orsi, William

Positions

• 2020-Present Professor (W2, with Tenure), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Paleontology and Geobiology,
  Ludwig-Maximilians Universität (LMU) München
• 2016-2020 Professor (W2, tenure-track), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Paleontology and Geobiology, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität (LMU) München
• 2014-2015 Postdoctoral Investigator, Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)
• 2013-2014 Assistant Research Scientist, Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences (UMCES)
• 2011-2013 Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)
• 2006-2011 Graduate Researcher, Biology Department, Northeastern University

Education

• 2006-2011 Ph.D. in Biology, Northeastern University
  (Advisor: Prof. Dr. Slava S. Epstein)
• 2002-2006 B.S. in Biology with honors, Temple University
  (Advisor: Prof. Ee Lin Lim)

Fellowships and Research Awards

• 2023-2026 German National Research Foundation (DFG) grant awarded (€ 247,477): “Investigating the food chain from magnetotactic bacteria to protozoa under laboratory and environmental conditions”. Principle Investigator: William Orsi.
• 2023-2026 German National Research Foundation (DFG) grant awarded (€ 260,000): “Testing the habitability of simulated Hadean hydrothermal vent ecosystems”. Principle Investigator: William Orsi.
• 2022-2025 German National Research Foundation (DFG) grant awarded (€ 565,000): “Illuminating the ecology of marine fungi using quantitative stable isotope probing”. Principle Investigator: William Orsi.
• 2021-2022 DFG Excellence Initiative Investitionsfonds Award (€ 100,000): “Radiolysis and deep life”. Principle Investigator: William Orsi.
• 2018-2021 German National Research Foundation (DFG) grant awarded (€ 480,000): “Tracing primordial metabolism reflected by microorganisms at hydrothermal vents”
• 2017-2020 German National Research Foundation (DFG) grant awarded (€ 360,000): “Aerobic microbial activity in deep sea abyssal clay”
• 2016-2017 Junior Researcher Award (DFG excellence initiative) research grant awarded: “Genome evolution over geological timescales in marine sediment”
• 2014-2015 Deep Ocean Exploration Institute (WHOI) research grant awarded:
  “Geosphere-biosphere interactions at a cretaceous “Lost City’-type hydrothermal system at the Iberia Margin”
• 2014-2015 Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations research grant awarded: “Microbial activity in oxygenated subseafloor sediment”
• 2014 Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations Research Travel and Exchange grant awarded
• 2012-2013 Ocean Life Institute (WHOI) research grant awarded:
  “Presence and activity of subseafloor Fungi in multiple geochemical settings”
• 2012-2013 Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations research grant awarded: “The distribution and activity of marine subsurface Fungi”
• 2012 Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations travel grant awarded
• 2011-2013 Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations postdoctoral fellowship:
  “Worldwide exploration of fungal distributions and activities in subseafloor sediment

 

Research Interests

• • Anaerobic microbiology
  • Microbial carbon cycling
  • Biogeochemistry
  • Stable isotope probing

University Service

2022-present Member of the steering committee for the Munich GeoCenter
2019-2022 Dean of Students for the Faculty of Geoscience at LMU Munich (Department of Earth and Environmental Science).
2017-present Vice Director for Department of Earth and Environmental Science, LMU Munich
2017-present Co-director of the young scientist Mentoring Program at LMU Munich (Faculty of Geoscience)

Teaching and Mentoring Experience

• 2017-present Co-director of the young scientist Mentoring Program at LMU Munich (Faculty of Geoscience).

• 2016-present Lecturer and lab instructor for the Geomicrobiology Masters course in Geobiology and Paleobiology Program (MGAP), at LMU Munich
• 2016-present Lecturer and field course instructor for the Geobiology undergraduate course, Geoscience Bachelors Program at LMU Munich
• 2016-present Lecturer and field course instructor for the Marine Geology undergraduate course, Geoscience Bachelors Program at LMU Munich
• 2016-present Lecturer and lab instructor for module Molecular Methods Masters course in Geobiology and Paleobiology Program (MGAP), at LMU Munich
• 2016-present Lecturer and lab instructor for the Laboratory Methods Masters course in Geobiology and Paleobiology Program (MGAP), at LMU Munich
• 2016-present Vice-chair of selection committee for Masters Program in Geobiology and Paleobiology (MGAP), at LMU Munich
• 2016-present Advisor for Bachelors Student theses (n=5), Masters Student theses (n=4), Ph.D students (n=1), and Postdocs (n=1)
• 2015 Invited lecturer for the SUCCESS (Shaping and Understanding Career Choices in Education, Science and Self) workshop, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA (August 8^th)
• 2013 Invited lecturer for the EU-US theoretical and practical training course on marine bioinformatics, Delaware Biotechnology Institute, Delaware (June 17-30^th)
• 2012 Invited lecturer for the marine biology workshop for international high school students, WHOI
• 2012 Mentor for the Falmouth Academy High School Science Fair (Falmouth, MA)
• 2006-2011 Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Microbiology, Biology Department, Northeastern University
• 2010 Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Biology, Biology Department, Northeastern University

Professional Activities and Service

• 2018-present Reviewer for the German Research Nation Funding Agency (DFG)
• 2018-present Reviewer for the Swiss Science National Funding Agency
• 2018-present Reviewer for Nature Microbiology
• 2017-present Vice Director for Department of Earth and Environmental Science, LMU Munich
• 2017-present Reviewer for ERC Horizon 2017 funding program
• 2016-present Reviewer for Marine Genomics
• 2016-present Reviewer for European Union Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
• 2016 Co-chair of session B001: “4 Billion Years of Serpentinization on Earth and Beyond”. American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting, San Francisco
• 2016-present Reviewer for the Swedish National Academy of Sciences
• 2016-present Reviewer for French National Research Agency (ANR) ‘Living Earth’ Scientific Evaluation Committee
• 2016-present Reviewer for Geology
• 2015-present Editor for mSystems
• 2015 Panel member for NASA Earth Science and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF); graduate student fellowship application selections
• 2015-present Junior Ambassador for the U.S.A. to the International Society of Microbial Ecology
• 2015-present Reviewer for Microorganisms
• 2015-present Reviewer for Environmental Microbiology
• 2015-present Reviewer for Geobiology
• 2015-present Reviewer for Marine Chemistry
• 2015-present Reviewer for Deep Sea Research
• 2015-present Reviewer for NASA Astrobiology Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
• 2015-present Reviewer for NSF-OCE Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
• 2014-present Reviewer for Estuarine, Costal, and Shelf Science
• 2014-present Reviewer for BMC Biology

• 2014-present Reviewer for C-DEBI Graduate Student Fellowship Program
• 2013-present Reviewer for NSF Bio-OCE Program
• 2013-present Junior member of the Ethics Panel for the Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations (C-DEBI)
• 2013-present Member of the Geochemical Society
• 2013 Co-chair of session B015: “Carbon Transformations in Hydrothermal Systems”. American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting, San Francisco
• 2013-present Reviewer for Nature Scientific Reports
• 2013-present Reviewer for The Biological Bulletin
• 2013-present Reviewer for Limnology and Oceanography
• 2013-present Reviewer for FEMS Microbiology Letters
• 2013-present Reviewer for Protist
• 2012-present Reviewer for FEMS Microbial Ecology
• 2012-present Reviewer for Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology
• 2012-present Reviewer for The ISME Journal
• 2010-present Reviewer for Applied and Environmental Microbiology
• 2010-present Review Editor for Frontiers in Extreme Microbiology
• 2008-present Member of the International Society of Microbial Ecology (ISME)