UGA professor Jenna Jambeck has been named one of USA TODAY’S 2023 Women of the Year for her work combatting plastic pollution.
The USA TODAY Women of the Year project honors women across the globe who make a positive impact in their communities. Jambeck is the Georgia nominee.
Her research focuses on the origin of plastic pollution and how it ends up in our oceans. In 2015 she published research that quantified for the first time the amount of plastic in the ocean. It revealed that since 2010, 8 million metric tons of plastic had entered the ocean
In 2018 the Royal Statistical Society named Jambeck’s research the International Statistic of the Year, which found that more than 90 percent of plastic has never been recycled.
Since then Jambeck has continued her research and received the MacArthur Fellowship grant, commonly known as the “Genius Grant,” for her work; she's the second UGA faculty member to receive the award.
To see more nominees visit womenoftheyear.usatoday.com.
