Our planet’s history is one of extreme climate cycles that repeat across time, with insights into the Earth’s previous responses still accessible today. This is part of what Isabel Montañez is working to understand — what these moments might teach us about our changing climate and future climate conditions.

Palm trees in Alaska, crocodiles in Wyoming: Fossils show that Earth’s temperature has changed over hundreds of millions of years. Now a new study has produced a curve of global mean surface temperatures over the past 485 million years.

Over the course of her career, Distinguished Professor Isabel Montañez has created a research niche in the fields of geochemistry and paleoclimatology: applying an Earth systems science approach to recreate Earth from eons past. For her monumental work in the geology field, Montañez recently received the Geological Society of America’s Arthur L. Day Medal.