After receiving her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geology from Southern Methodist University. Maureen Steiner PhD’74 was the first female to earn a doctorate degree from The University of Texas at Dallas.

At UT Dallas, Steiner studied under Charles Helsley, together becoming among the first scientists to “determine Mesozoic paleopoles for North America and to develop the Mesozoic portion of the global scale,” according to Spencer G. Lucas, a curator for paleontology at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.

Following her time at UT Dallas, Steiner spent her professional career at the University of Wyoming, where she occupied several faculty positions until she retired. During her tenure at the University of Wyoming, Steiner continued her research of Mesozoic paleomagnetism. Her work led her to travel to Spain, China, Poland and the Canadian Arctic, often in collaboration with other researchers and geologists. Steiner’s studies were foundational to the development of the magnetic polarity timescale, and over the course of four decades, received grant funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Steiner not only paved the way for future female doctoral students at UT Dallas, but also for women interested in the study of paleomagnetism.