Brenda Buck
Brenda J Buck, Ph.D. is a Professor of Medical Geology at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
She is an interdisciplinary scientist and public intellectual who excels in multiple field and laboratory research on environmental topics. She has worked on a wide range of topics in her career most recently focused on air quality and health effects of exposure to mineral dusts including those containing arsenic and asbestos. As part of her interdisciplinary expertise, she has served on review panels for both NIH and NSF proposals. Dr. Buck has been a researcher and teacher for field expeditions to 18 countries on 6 continents. She has obtained over $21 million in grant funding during her career.
Dr Buck has been widely recognized by her peers for her outstanding achievements, including being elected to the Fellowship in both the Soil Science Society of America (2012) and the Geological Society of America (2008). In 2007, she was awarded the prestigious M.L. & C.M. Jackson Award from the Soil Science Society of America for outstanding contributions in Soil Mineralogy/Chemistry. She was the 16th recipient, and the 1st female to receive this award. Dr. Buck has also been honored by receiving the Outstanding Plant and Environmental Science Department Alumnus Award (NMSU, 2015) and the Editor’s Citation for Excellence, Associate Editor, Soil Science Society of America Journal (2016). She is currently an Association for Women Geoscientists Distinguished Lecturer (2022-present). In 2024 she was inducted into the New Mexico State University Alumni Geology Hall of Fame.
Dr. Buck grew up on a remote cattle ranch in western Montana. She has dealt with the effects of MCS and MCAS from an early age and is a member of the International MCS Consortium (EHAC-ASEC).