Tribute to Daniel McGinnis
It is with deep sorrow that we communicate that our dear colleague Daniel F. McGinnis has passed away after fighting a serious illness.
Our thoughts are with his closest, his family and his research group.
Dan completed a Master’s degree (2000) and a Ph.D. (2003) in civil engineering and environmental science from Virginia Tech. During his Ph.D. and as a post-doc, he was with the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) in Lucerne, followed by senior scientist positions at the Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany, the University of South Denmark in Odense as well as the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Berlin.
In 2014, Dan joined University of Geneva as assistant professor within the Forel Department of Environmental and Aquatic Sciences and the Institute for Environmental Sciences (ISE). He was promoted to associate professor in 2020 and has been director of the Forel Department since 2023. Key topics of his research included aquatic greenhouse gas emissions, bubble and plume modelling, biochemical-physical interactions as well as modelling of sediment and water columns in lakes and coastal ocean systems. Dan was also a founding member of the Center for Life in the Universe at the University of Geneva.
Dan McGinnis has led and contributed to major expeditions in numerous locations around the globe, from the Arctic to the Baltic and the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Atlantic and several other locations. In 2025, he participated in Kiliunited, a climb to Mt Kilimanjaro to study and to highlight the critical role glaciers, snow, and ice play in the Earth’s climate system and water cycle. Together with Fondation Pacifique, he contributed to the Expedition Arctique, which was presented to the public at Uni-Dufour in March 2026. He has been collaborating with the Fondation Pacifique also in an expedition to Gambia, which was his last trip, with his research being documented by National Geographic. His team is continuing this work and is about to leave for a new expedition to Gambia, where Dan established a collaboration on the mangrove ecosystem together with the Gambian GREAT Institute.
Dan was driven by science, while ensuring that his research was collaborative in nature, accessible and impactful. He has been an enthusiastic leader and stood out with his friendly, cheerful, generous and optimistic personality.
We miss him very much as highly appreciated colleague, researcher and teacher, as director, and most of all, as a dear friend.