Jennifer Pett-Ridge
Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff,
Physical and Life Sciences Directorate,
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Director and Lead Scientist,
LLNL Carbon Initiative
Principal Investigator,
Microbes Persist - DOE Soil Microbiome SFA,
Terraforming Soil - DOE Energy Earthshot Research Center
Adjunct Full Professor,
Life & Environmental Sciences Department, UC Merced
Investigator,
Innovative Genomics Institute, UC Berkeley
Contact: 925-424-2882 | pettridge2 [at] llnl.gov (pettridge2[at]llnl[dot]gov)
Education and Professional Experience
Ph.D. Soil Microbial Ecology, University of California, Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management (2005)
M.F.S. (Masters in Forest Science), Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Science (1996)
B.A. Biology; B.A. Studies in the Environment, Yale University (1994)
Professional Interests
Director of the LLNL Carbon Initiative and Lead of the Carbon Uptake Pillar, Jennifer Pett-Ridge is a LLNL Distinguished Member of Technical Staff who studies the effects of earth systems change on soil biogeochemical cycles and microbial communities. Currently, her group is focused on the role of microbial ecophysiology, redox, and rhizosphere plant-microbe-mineral interactions in shaping soil carbon persistence. As the lead of LLNL’s Soil Microbiome Science Focus Area and Terraforming Soil DOE Energy Earthshot Research Center, she helps coordinate multi-disciplinary teams that integrate biogeochemistry, stable isotope probing, NanoSIMS imaging, molecular microbial ecology and computational modeling to understand biotic interactions and energy flow in microbial communities, and the processes that drive soil carbon CO2 removal and persistence. She has published over 180 peer-review articles and is a recipient of a DOE Early Career award (2014), Geochemical Society Endowed Biogeochemistry Medal (2019), Secretary of Energy Achievement Award (2021), the DOE Office of Science Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award (2022), and is a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America and AAAS. In 2025, she was inducted into the Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame for her work leading Roads to Removal, a county-level analysis of CDR capacity and costs in the USA.
