Jody Deming, the Karl M. Banse Endowed Professor, is an oceanographer who currently explores the limits of microbial life in the Arctic Ocean and its sea-ice cover, including how microbes adapt to the cold, and their ecological roles more broadly. At UW, she has directed the Marine Bioremediation Program, launched the Marine Molecular Biotechnology Laboratory (now the Center for Environmental Genomics), and helped establish the nation’s first graduate training program in Astrobiology. She served on the U.S. Polar Research Board during the International Polar Year from 2007–2009, chaired the International Arctic Polynya Program from 2000–2012, and has recently served on the U.S. Ocean Sciences Board and a Deepwater Horizon Committee for the National Research Council. She is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Ocean Science domain of the new open-access journal Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene. In recognition of her work, she has been elected to the American Academy of Microbiology and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Deming holds the Walters Endowed Professorship.