David Adler Gold

Dr. David Adler Gold is a geobiologist at the University of California, Davis, specializing in the intersection of genetics and the fossil record to study Earth-life relationships across geological timescales. He serves as manager of the UC Davis Fossil Collection and faculty director of the UC Davis Calteach/MAST program, which trains STEM undergraduates for K-12 teaching careers in California.

Education:

• PhD from UCLA (advisor: Dr. David Jacobs)
• Postdoctoral fellowship at MIT (with Dr. Roger Summons)
• Postdoctoral fellowship at Caltech (with Dr. Lea Goentoro)

Dr. Gold's research integrates molecular biology with paleontology to address fundamental questions about early animal evolution and contemporary climate impacts. His lab employs Aurelia moon jellyfish as a model organism for studying tissue regeneration and biological aging, while investigating molecular fossils to resolve deep-time evolutionary hypotheses. Current work focuses on biomineralization processes to understand how ocean acidification affects shell-building in marine organisms.

Scientific Awards:

• NSF CAREER Award (2021) funding community college student fellowships at Bodega Marine Laboratory
• Sinai and Synapses Fellowship (2024-2026) for science-religion dialogue

Dr. Gold mentors graduate students like Chris (presenting at Geological Society of America 2024) and undergraduate researchers including Aidan (accepted to AMNH graduate program). His NSF-funded fellowship program has trained seven community college students across 2023-2024 cohorts in field research on clam burrows and sponge biomineralization. The Gold Lab actively partners with tribal scholars to integrate traditional ecological knowledge into geoscience education.

The lab maintains the UC Davis Paleontology Collection and collaborates with Bodega Marine Laboratory on climate change research. Current initiatives include NSF-funded studies on calcium carbonate supplementation for marine organisms and interdisciplinary projects examining science-religion intersections through the Sinai and Synapses fellowship.