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= Grace Brush = Grace Somers Brush is a paleoecologist working as a professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering at John Hopkins University. She studies palynology and is known for her study in the Chesapeake Bay ecological history.

Early life and education
Brush was born in a rural area of Nova Scotia, Canada, 1931. Because of her family estate, she was able to spend her childhood exploring nature in a relatively secluded setting. She started her education at a small local school where she developed her love for science.

In general, Brush had an accelerated school life. At the age of 13, she finished 10th grade and continued her education at a boarding school in Antigonish, then graduated at the age of 14 from 11th grade.

She kept finishing her 12th grade, then entered the St. Francis Xavier University as a sophomore. She completed her Bachelor of Art study with an economics major and a geology minor in 1949.

Starting of career
Brush got her first job working for the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) as a technician soon after graduation. Her task was to slice the coal samples for them to be reviewed by the geologists. During the process, she discovered the spore remains in the coal and was granted to make further researches. She then presented her research paper at an international conference in Antigonish and gained wide recognition. After that, GSC decided to set palynology, the study of particulate samples that gives them a general understanding of what their original environment is like, as a subtopic of the research. They offered Brush a position to lead the establishment of a palynology laboratory in Nova Scotia.

Brush then briefly continued to study for a Master of Science in botany at the University of Illinois, for she needed the proper training to take the offer. Following her graduate work in coal paleobotany, Brush shifted her research focus onto this field and plant evolution. Graduated in 1951 at the age of 19, she went back to Canada, set up the laboratory, then left the country for higher education.

Left for the States
After return to the States, Brush went to study at Penn State University with a research assistantship for the palytology program.

In 1954, both Brush and her husband transferred to Harvard. She sought her Ph.D. in Biology at Radcliffe College in all-male Harvard and graduated in 1956. She followed her husband, working for part-time assignments as he moved through different jobs. Among them are the U.S. Geological Survey in Washington, D.C., George Washinton University, University of Iowa and Princeton. The couple finally settled down at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland in 1969. Brush then became a research scientist of the institution in 1973.

Soon as she came to Maryland, Brush started to work for a governmental program which assesses the local vegetation and soil condition for agriculture purposes. Her study for the Chesapeake Bay began shortly after that.

From 1976 to 1978, she worked for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Power Plant Research Program as the administrator.

Brush was the chair for the paleoecology section of the Ecological Society of America from 1982 to 1983. She then served as the chair of the society's Standing Committee on Historical Records during the years 1991 and 1992.

She starts to work as a tenured professor at John Hopkins University in 1990.

Research and selected publications
Most of Brush's researches focused on the Chesapeake Bay and its ecological transitions through colonial history.

Important works

 * A throughout vegetation map for Maryland, featuring the relationship between plant species and soil types.
 * A reconstruction of the Chesapeake Bay estuarine history by using stratigraphic records from the sediment cores.

Selected article publications

 * "Rates and patterns of estuarine sediment accumulation", first published in November 1989 by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc.. Brush evaluated the upper Chesapeake Bay's sedimentation rate by comparing the pollen to the sediment concentration ratio on the same horizon in the article. The research shows that the fastest sedimentation happens in the upper-middle part of the tidal branches and corresponds to the time when the heavily deforested area is under cultivation as major precipitation events occur.


 * "Historical Land Use, Nitrogen, and Coastal Eutrophication: A Paleoecological Perspective", first published in October 2008 by Estuaries and Coasts. In the article, Brush illustrated how the evidence in Chesapeake Bay sediment cores shows that the estuarine landscape is converted to a more anoxic and eutrophic one by the agricultural activities in the area. It suggested a possible solution to the eutrophication by looking into the unaffected area of the bay.

Awards and honors

 * 2015 Heritage Award - John Hopkins University
 * 2007 Odum Life Achievement Award - Estuarine Research Foundation
 * 2004 Mathias Medal - Maryland Sea Grant
 * 1995 Bullard Scholar Fellowship - Harvard University

Personal life
Brush is married to Lucien M. Brush in 1953, who was a Princeton graduate at Penn State University back then. After the two married, they made an agreement on balancing their research: Grace would follow Lucien wherever he goes for him to get the best job, and meanwhile still be able to continue her own research.

He was a professor of environmental and civil engineering at Princeton.

Lucien died at age 64 at Roland Park, Md., on Feb.13, 1994, due to lung cancer. He was not only a great support to the family's livelihood, but also to Brush's scientific career. The couple had three sons: Lucien Jr., George, and John, with two grandchildren.