Sallie W. Chisholm is a U.S. biological oceanographer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is an expert in the ecology and evolution of ocean microbes. Sallie W. Chisholm was born in Marquette, Michigan. Chisholm graduated from Marquette Senior High School in Marquette, MI in 1965. She attended Skidmore College and earned a Ph.D. from SUNY Albany in 1974. Chisholm received the National Medal of Science from President Barack Obama on February 1, 2011. Chisholm has been a faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1976. Her research has focused on the ecology of marine phytoplankton.