[1] In 1987, Pomponi found a sponge that was new to her, while scuba diving, that researchers believed could potentially cure cancer.
[6] That President's Panel led to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the United States Congress to fund marine science.
[5] In 2016, Pomponi and Guojun Wang were rewarded a grant to produce lasonolide A in a laboratory based on the genes that the compound naturally receives.
[7] In 2003, Pomponi was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame in 2003, and she later worked as the chairperson of the organization's scholarship committee in 2005.
[6] Pomponi won the Society for In Vitro Biology Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022 for "her scientific and humanitarian career that spans decades of pioneering contributions, scientific advances and contributions to marine invertebrate biotechnology, biological oceanography and international marine policy."