Cecilia B. Sanders

Cecilia B. Sanders is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geology at the University of Maryland, leading the Sanders of Time Laboratory. Her research focuses on understanding processes that preserve or destroy evidence of past life in the rock record, with emphasis on microbial-metazoan relationships and phosphate-rich deposits. She holds a PhD in Geobiology from Caltech (2022), an MS in Planetary Science from Caltech (2018), and a BA in Earth and Planetary Sciences & Astrophysics from Harvard University (2016).

Her work spans field geology in locations like Eastern Brazil, Mongolia, and Namibia, combining analytical techniques such as Raman spectroscopy, SEM, and stable isotope analysis. Key projects include studying Ediacaran carbonate rocks in Brazil and Precambrian-Cambrian boundary sediments in Central Asia to unravel the interplay between environmental chemistry, microbial activity, and fossil preservation.

• Research Highlights: Microbial ecology in ancient phosphorites, sedimentary diagenesis, and astrobiology.
• Laboratory: The Sanders of Time Lab (under construction), dedicated to interdisciplinary geobiological studies.

Awarded prestigious fellowships including the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and Peter Buck Postdoctoral Fellowship, she also contributes to science education and outreach. Her artistic background informs her visual documentation of geological and microscopic phenomena.