Women in Science and Engineering at Yale (2020 Edition)

Ruth E. Blake, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, ​School of the Environment, and School of Engineering and Applied Science

Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering

Ruth Blake’s research focuses on experimental and stable isotope geochemistry, nano-geochemistry, molecular geomicrobiology and geobiological research on extremophiles, and the phosphorus cycle. Her research on the co-evolution of Earth and life, examines geochemical and microbiological processes across different times in evolutionary history (e.g., the Archean era), as well as in different terrestrial and ocean environments across the globe and on Mars. She bridges engineering with geochemistry and microbiology and uses analytical chemistry, microscopy, and molecular biological tools to ​study these processes and their chemical imprints "chemical fossils" in the rock record.

She has participated in several ocean exploration and research expeditions including cruises to: Loihi undersea volcano near Hawaii, the mid-ocean ridge at 9°N East Pacific Rise, the Orca Basin in the Gulf of Mexico, and North Pond in the mid-Atlantic. She has also served as shipboard scientist on Ocean Drilling Program and R/V Atlantis /DSV ALVIN platforms and as Chief Scientist onboard the exploration vessel E/V Nautilus. 

She has received numerous awards including the F.W. Clarke Award of the Geochemical Society and she has partnered with EthnicOnline STEM Foundation and New Haven schools to train students in biogeochemical research and prepare them for research at sea and for field studies in the Caribbean through the Ocean Classroom and Amistad Science-Community & Culture Outreach programs. She has also taught at Yale-NUS.