Peter Girguis received a B.Sc. from UCLA and a Ph.D. from UC Santa Barbara. He joined Harvard as an assistant professor in 2005, becoming full professor in 2012. He also founded Trophos Energy inc. in 2009, an alternative energy company. He continues to be active in entrepreneurship.

Girguis’ honors include 5 consecutive commendations for distinguished teaching, the 2007 and 2011 Lindbergh Foundation Award for Science & Sustainability, an Honorable mention in the ENI International Energy and the Environment Award, and Discover Magazine’s “10 Everyday Technologies That Can Change the World”. He was a Distinguished Lecturer for the National Science Foundation, a Merck Co. Innovative Research Awardee, and a Department of Energy E.C.-U.S. Biotechnology Fellowship recipient.

Girguis’ research is aimed at understanding how microbes and animals respond to changes in the deep sea. He develops cutting-edge methods and technologies such as underwater mass spectrometers, carbon isotope analyzers and other sensors to study microbial and animal metabolism in nature. Girguis has authored or co-authored over 85 publications in journals such as Nature, Science, the Proc. of the National Academy of Sciences, and the Proc. of the Royal Society. Girguis is a board member of the Ocean Exploration Trust (OET), is on notable Schmidt Ocean Institute vehicle advisory boards, and served as chair of the National Deep Submergence Science Committee (DeSSC) from 2010-2016.