Dr. David Adler Gold is a geobiologist,  combining genetics and the fossil record to study the relationship between Earth and life over long timescales. He has worked on problems as old as the origins of photosynthesis, and as recent as the effects of global warming on clam growth.

David got his PhD at UCLA working with Dr. David Jacobs. He then went on to do postdoctoral fellowships at MIT (with Dr. Roger Summons) and Caltech (with Dr. Lea Goentoro) before joining the faculty at UC Davis. In addition to his research, Dr. Gold is also the manager of the UC Davis Fossil Collection.

The Gold Lab is committed to diversifying the field of geoscience, and ensuring that high quality science education is available to all students. We do this in the lab through recruitment and outreach efforts. Dr. Gold is also the faculty director of the UC Davis Calteach/MAST program, which trains undergraduate majors for careers in California K-12 teaching.

Dr. Gold is an advocate for the scientific method and empiricism. But he also recognizes that society shapes the way science is done, and that the natural sciences have historically been used to perpetuate racist ideologies. In addition to his scientific work, Dr. Gold studies the relationship between science and other ways of knowing, including traditional ecological knowledge and improving dialogue between practitioners of science and religion.