2023 Selections for the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology
Itunu Apalara, University of Oklahoma
Itunu will conduct field research towards “Understanding Chemical Weathering in a Euxinic Environment Using Bulk Sediment and Clay-Preserved Proxies, Anadarko Basin, Southwest Oklahoma”.
Pablo Aran, University of Arizona, Tucson
Pablo will focus on “Investigating Microbial Habitability of a High-Altitude Volcano in the Atacama Desert as a Mars Analog, Antofagasta, Chile”.
*Yasaman Azizpour, U Illinois, Chicago
Yasaman will be “Investigating High-Pressure Adaptation of Enzymes in Sulfate-Reducing Microorganisms from Yellowstone Hot Springs”.
Ernest Bimm, University of Chicago
Ernest’s project is “Astrobiology in Action: Simulating Alien Life in the Desert, Grand Junction, Colorado”.
Harry Brodsky, University of Colorado, Boulder
Harry will be examining “Phosphorus redox cycling in serpentinite-hosted aquifers of the Samail ophiolite, Oman”.
Dani Buchheister, Pennsylvania State University
Dani will be “Searching for a Missing Iron-Sulfur Microbial Metabolism in Pyrite Biofilm Communities from Frasassi Cave System Lakes”.
Catherine Caterham, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Catherine will study “Herringbone Carbonate Through Time and Its Linkages to Ocean Chemistry, Belgium, Sardinia and Canada”.
Ligia Patricia Fonseca Coelho, Cornell University
Ligia will gather data to build a database, “COOLER – Color Catalog of Extremophile Communities in Ice”.
Avery Haydock Fulford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Avery will conduct research “In Hot (and Salty) Water: Correlating Microbial Metabolism with the Energy Landscape of Brine-Dominated, Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents”.
Chinmayee Govinda Raj, NASA Ames Research Center
Chinmayee will be “Assessing Anthropogenic Contamination in Extreme Terrestrial Analog Environments: Mauna Kea Field Study”.
Carolynn Harris, Dartmouth College
Carolynn will explore “Life Detection Via Lipid Stable Isotope Probing in Mars Analog Soils from Atacama Salars, Atacama Desert, Chile”.
Hanna Leapaldt, Pennsylvania State University
Hanna will travel to Canada in support of “Identifying the Fingerprint of Microbial Autotrophy on Magnesium Carbonate and Implications for Mars Sample Return, Atlin and Cariboo Plateau, British Columbia, Canada”.
Angela Oliverio, Syracuse University
Angela will be “Uncovering the metabolic strategies of extremophilic microbial eukaryotes in high-temperature geothermal habitats”.
Pia Sen, George Washington University
Pia’s project involves “Investigating viral diversity and Roles in Hawaiian Steam Vent Microbial Communities”.
Walker Weyland, University of California, Riverside
Walker will investigate “Springtime in the Precambrian: Comparing Community Composition for Evidence of Reproductive Strategies in Early Multicellular Ecosystems, Nilpena Ediacara National Park, South Australia”.
Jacob Winnikoff, Harvard University
Will study “Cellular Membrane Responses to High Pressure and Dynamic Temperature at Deep-Sea Vents, Galapagos Rift”.