Denise Dearing

Dearing was raised in Pennsylvania and Connecticut. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree at Eastern Connecticut State University and her Master of Science degree at the University of Vermont before moving to the University of Utah to complete her PhD with Phyllis Coley. While studying at the University of Utah, Dearing was the recipient of the 1993 Association for Women in Science award{{cite news |title=Take A Bow |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99509222/take-a-bow/ |access-date=April 10, 2022 |publisher=The Salt Lake Tribune |date=August 15, 1993|via=newspapers.com}} and a Fulbright scholarship to study in Australia.{{cite news |title=School Notes |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99508979/school-notes/ |access-date=April 10, 2022 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |date=November 21, 1995|via=newspapers.com}} Following her PhD, Dearing accepted an National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin–Madison where she began studying woodrats.{{cite web |title=Denise Dearing |url=https://pcsw.utah.edu/women-of-note/denise-dearing.php |publisher=University of Utah |access-date=April 10, 2022|via=newspapers.com}}

Following her PhD and postdoctoral fellowship, Dearing joined the faculty at the University of Utah. Upon joining the faculty, she spearheaded a daycare program that the biology department sponsored for its faculty members.{{cite news |title=Attack of the Biokids |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99509629/attack-of-the-biokids/ |access-date=April 10, 2022 |publisher=The Daily Utah Chronicle |date=March 8, 2000|via=newspapers.com}} In October 1999, Dearing was a member of a research team that explored how atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide drive changes in the Earth's climate and impact the planet's ecology.{{cite news |title=Global warming research wins U of U scientists $960,000 grant |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99509286/global-warming-research-wins-u-of-u/ |access-date=April 11, 2022 |publisher=Davis County Clipper |date=October 19, 1999|via=newspapers.com}} Following this, she was part of the first research team to devise the theory that off-roading had a direct impact of hantavirus in rats. Her research team trapped rodents from rat middens in the West Tintic Mountains and found that deer mice had a 30 percent infection rate for hantavirus.{{cite news |title=Researchers believe off-roading may up rates of hantavirus in rodents |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99509427/researchers-believe-off-roading-may-up/ |access-date=April 11, 2022 |publisher=The Daily Spectrum |date=February 11, 2001|via=newspapers.com}} Dearing replicated this study in 2009 with eight packrats captured from the Mojave Desert and the Great Basin. Her research team then scanned the rodents to look for active genes that produce liver enzymes to detoxify the poisons in creosote and the less-toxic juniper.{{cite web |last1=Ferebee |first1=Kate |title=Poison: It's What's for Dinner |url=https://archive.unews.utah.edu/news_releases/poison-it039s-what039s-for-dinner/ |publisher=University of Utah |access-date=April 12, 2022 |date=April 6, 2009}} As a result of her research, Dearing accepted a National Science Foundation grant in 2013 to study the Earth's biodiversity.{{cite web |last1=Wood |first1=Shawn |title=U Biologists Snare Almost $3.1 Million in NSF Biodiversity Grants |url=https://archive.unews.utah.edu/news_releases/u-biologists-snare-almost-3-1-million-in-nsf-biodiversity-grants/ |publisher=University of Utah |access-date=April 12, 2022 |date=October 25, 2013}}

In 2014, Dearing was named chair of the Department of Biology and was recognized by the American Society of Mammalogists with its C. Hart Merriam Award for her "transformative and cross-disciplinary research on the ecological factors and physiological constraints that influence how mammals such as woodrats forage for food and evolve the ability to eat a wide range of plants, including those that contain toxic substances."{{cite web |last1=Wood |first1=Shawn |title=U Biologist Denise Dearing Honored by Fellow Mammalogists |url=https://archive.unews.utah.edu/news_releases/u-biologist-denise-dearing-honored-by-fellow-mammalogists/ |access-date=April 12, 2022 |date=June 25, 2014}} While serving as chair, Dearing also received the 2018 Joseph Grinnell Award for her contributions to the integration of education and research in mammalogy.{{cite web |title=2018 Grinnell Award - Denise Dearing |url=http://www.mammalogy.org/2018-grinnell-award-denise-dearing |publisher=American Society of Mammalogists |access-date=April 12, 2022}} In 2021, Dearing was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for her research and contributions to nutritional ecology and disease ecology.{{cite web |title=Four U scientists are 2021 AAAS Fellows |url=https://attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff/2021-aaas-fellows/ |publisher=University of Utah |access-date=April 12, 2022 |date=January 26, 2022}} Following this, she accepted a visiting Alexander von Humboldt Foundation fellowship at the Max Planck Institute.{{cite web |title=Denise Dearing visiting Humboldt fellow at our Institute |url=https://www.ice.mpg.de/405018/Denise-Dearing-Humboldt-Research-Award|publisher=Alexander von Humboldt Foundation|access-date=April 12, 2022 |date=March 31, 2022}}

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Category:Living people

Category:American mammalogists

Category:American physiologists

Category:Scientists from Salt Lake City

Category:University of Utah faculty

Category:Eastern Connecticut State University alumni

Category:University of Utah alumni

Category:Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)