Roksana Majewska

Dr. Roksana Majewska: marine biologist, extreme habitat explorer, and diatom detective extraordinaire. She is the go-to expert on epizoic diatoms (yes, those tiny hitchhikers with a knack for glassblowing), having discovered dozens of new taxa and written over 50 scientific papers. From Antarctica to Svalbard and Greenland, from the Caribbean to the Namib Desert, she has been everywhere science needs her, collecting stories and samples from some of the planet’s wildest and weirdest ecosystems.

Born in Poland, Roksana showed early signs of brilliance, winning national contests in art, ecology, long-distance running, and, oddly enough, sexually transmitted disease trivia. This paved her way to studying marine biology in Gdańsk, followed by globe-trotting research gigs in Portugal, Italy, South Africa, Norway, and even Texas (where she probably learned to say “y’all” with a polar twist). She has never stopped looking for yet another reason to stare at diatoms for hours.

Roksana’s eureka moments for the overly caffeinated and mind-blowing discoveries that impressed three people at a conference earned her international accolades, including the Antarctic Science Award, Africa Genome Challenge Award, and Norma J. Lang and Marie Curie-Skłodowska Fellowships. She also collaborated on projects ranging from cancer detection to nanostructures and other stuff that makes microscopes jealous. In 2020, a year of questionable decisions, a diatom genus Majewskea was erected to forever cement Roksana’s legacy as the person who took algae on marine animals way too seriously. As Einstein might say: “A person who never made a groundbreaking discovery never tried brushing a sea snake to find diatoms.”