Marisa Pedulla

Marisa Pedulla was a judoka who competed at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Pedulla won eight medals at the US Championships, including winning national titles in 1996-97. Pedulla also competed on “American Gladiator” on television, winning one of the episodes.

Pedulla graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in chemistry and minors in Japanese and mathematics. She earned a PhD in biology at the University of Pittsburgh. Pedulla did post-doc work at Washington State University, before accepting a position at Montana Tech as a professor studying phage genomics. Her scientific interests also included microbiology, cellular, molecular, and developmental biology as well as the history and philosophy of science