Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology

The American Philosophical Society (APS) is the oldest learned society in North America, and a scientific sponsor of Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery in 1804. This spirit of exploration continues today, and nowhere is it more visible than in the vision and efforts of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). APS and the NASA Astrobiology Program partnered in 2006 to promote the continued exploration of the world around us through a program of research grants in support of astrobiological field studies undertaken by graduate students, postdocs, and early-career scientists and scholars who are affiliated with U.S. institutions.

Additional information, including the application forms and instructions, is available at the APS’s Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology page at: http://www.amphilsoc.org/grants/astrobiology

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”.

2022 Selections for the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology

Tristan Caro, University of Colorado, Boulder
Tristan will explore “Targeted Life Detection in the Terrestrial Serpentinite Subsurface of Oman.”

Andrea Corpolongo, University of Cincinnati
Andrea will study the “Marginal Lacustrine Carbonate Microbialites and Mudstones From the Eocene Lake Gosiute (Green River, Colorado) as Mars Jezero Crater Sample Analogs.”

Ignacio de la Higuera Hernandez, Portland State University
Ignacio plans to examine the “Extreme Ecology of a Virus in Japanese Hot Springs.”

Sabrina Elkassas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Sabrina will sample for “Methanogens at the Serpentinite Mud Volcanoes of the Mariana Forearc: A Missing Piece of the Puzzle?”

Isuru Ethige, University of Akron
Isuru will seek “Light Energy Limits Necessary for Phototrophy Using Cave Entrance as a Model.”

Nathan Hadland, University of Arizona
Nathan’s field research will be “Investigating the Habitability of Mars Analog Lava Flow Fields in Iceland.”

Jessica Lopez, University of Houston, Clear Lake
Jessica is focused on “Understanding the Microbial Impact on Source-to-Sink Processes in a Basaltic Fluvio-Lacustrine Martian Analog Environment.”

Heather McCandless, University of California, Riverside
Heather will be “Reconstructing Earth’s Earliest Multicellular Pelagic Ecosystems: Implications for Ediacaran Ocean and Sediment Biogeochemistry.”

Emilie Skoog, Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Emilie will focus on “Characterization of Bacteriophage From Early Branching Bacterial Lineages Isolated From Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents.”

2020 Selections for the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology

Caroline Hung, University of California, Riverside
Caroline has planned “A Novel Interdisciplinary Study of Microbial Habitats and Community Structure in a Nondessicated, Redox Stratified Evaporite-Forming Mars Analog, Salton Sea, California”

Jana Meixnerova, University of Washington
Will study the “Preservation Potential and Extended Record of Geochemical Proxies for Microbial Metabolisms in the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia”

Angel Mojarro, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Will travel to Greenland in support of “Investigating Exceptional Soft-Tissue Preservation and the Role of Sulfur Diagenesis in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland.” Additional photos.

Taylor Plattner, Georgia Institute of Technology
Will search for “Potential Biomarkers in Planetary Analog Brine Environments, Western Australia Transient Lakes.” Supplement 1; Supplement 2; Supplement 3.

Rachel Spietz, Montana State University
Will explore “Mineral Sources of Essential Elements Through Microbially Mediated Reduction of Metal Sulfides”

Gaia Stucky de Quay, University of Texas at Austin
Will study “Constraints on Habitability Timescales During Early Mars From Fluvial Modification in the Cape Verde Archipelago”

Leah Trutschel, University of Cincinnati
Will be “Exploring Microbial Habitability and Diversity in a Marine-Like Terrestrial Serpentinizing Spring—Ney’s Spring, Mt. Shasta, California.” Additional photos.

2019 Selections for the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology

Heidi Aronson, University of Southern California
Will be “Searching for a Thermodynamically Predicted Novel Microbial Metabolism in the Sulfidic Karst Caves at Frasassi, Italy”

Jacob Buffo, Georgia Institute of Technology
Will study “Biosignature Dynamics in British Columbia’s Frozen Hypersaline Lakes: Implications for the Habitability and Bioburden of Ice-Brine Environments” [Additional Figures]

Gregory Deemer, University of New Hampshire
Will travel to Alaska in support of “Understanding the Interaction of High-Frequency Sound Within Saline Ice: Applications to Habitat Identification on Icy Worlds”

Bradley Garczynski, Purdue University
Will conduct “An Orbital and in-Situ Analysis of Lake Salda Microbialites as a Modern Analog for Jezero Crater, Mars”

Michael Kipp, University of Washington
Will explore “Phosphorites of the Paleoproterozoic Aravalli Supergroup, India: A Window to Earth’s Early Phosphorus Cycle”

Marisa Mayer, Stanford University
Will examine “Environmental Relevance of Lipid Biomarkers in Hot Spring Mars Analogues” in California. (Supplement)

Jeffrey Osterhout, University of California, Los Angeles
Will seek “Organic Biosignatures in the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia: Insights to Earth’s Archean Biosphere and the Search for Past Life on Mars”

Leigh Anne Riedman, University of California, Santa Barbara
Will study “Eukaryotic Evolution in Heterogeneous Proterozoic Seas” in Australia.

Rachel Suprenant, University of California, Riverside
Will also travel to Australia to examine “Ediacaran Test Tubes: Earth’s Earliest Experiments in Multicellularity Recorded in the Ontogeny and Ecology of Three Tubular Taxa”

2018 Selections for the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology

Agic, Heda, University of California, Santa Barbara
Investigating Habitats of Early Eukaryotes, Shanxi Province, Northern China

Candela Garza, Alberto, Carnegie Mellon University
Automated Detection of Biosignatures in the Atacama Desert, Chile

Dhaliwal, Jasmeet, Pennsylvania State Univesity
A Fieldwork and Geochemical Study of Holuhraun Volcano, Iceland, as an Analog for Hydrothermal Vents and Martian Volcanism

Johnson, Benjamin, University of Colorado, Boulder
Paleoarchaen Seawater Temperature, Nutrient Levels, and Depth: Reconstruction From Altered Oceanic Crust in the Pilabara Craton, Northwestern Australia

Lee, Bridget, University of California, Riverside
Banded Iron Formations, Minas Garais, Brazil, as Key to the Rise of Atmospheric Oxygen

Millan, Maëva, Georgetown University
The Preservation of Organic Molecules in New Zealand Hydrothermal Environments as Mars Analogs

Nichols, Claire, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Determining the Earliest History of Earth’s Ancient Magnetic Field, Greenland and Its Implications for the Origins of Life

Park, Yuem, University of California, Berkeley
Dramatic Global Change During the Era of Animal Evolution: A New Archive of Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth Glaciation From the Tambien Group of Ethiopia

Seyler, Lauren, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
From the Frying Pan to the Fire: How Microbes Survive Rapidly Changing Conditions in Flat Cone Spring, Sentinel Meadows, Yellowstone National Park

Zaloumis, Jonathan, Arizona State University
Microbial Biosignature Preservation in Mars-Analog Evaporative Lake Precipitates from the Atacama Desert, Chile

2017 Selections for the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology

Thomas Boag, Stanford University
Will examine “Oxygen, Temperature, and the Deep-Water Evolution of Animals: Investigating Fossil Occurrences Across an Ediacaran Shelf-to-Slope Transect in Northwest Canada”

Steffen Buessecher, Arizona State University
Will study “Entangled Abiotic and Biotic N2O Fluxes in Iron-Rich Soils of Peru”

Daniel Colman, Montana State University
“Quantifying the Influence of Tectonic Regime on Hot Spring Microbial Diversity” in Iceland

Jeremy Dunham, University of Tennessee
Will examine “Variation in Microfabric Within Proterozoic Early Diagenetic Chert and Implications for Genesis” at the Angmaat Formation, Canada

Rebecca Dzombak, University of Michigan
Will explore “Iceland as an Analogue for Unvegetated Precambrian Soils During Oxygenation of the Atmosphere”

Andrew Gangidine, University of Cincinnati
Will conduct an “Exploration and Collection of Sinter Deposits and Biofilms in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, for the Development of Novel Trace Element Biosignature Analysis”

Kelsey Moore, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Will examine the “Evolution of Cyanobacteria” at Shark Bay, Australia

Logan Peoples, University of California, San Diego
“Comparing Pressure-Retained and Decompressed Microbial Communities from the Greatest Ocean Depths” in the Puerto Rico Trench

Elena Zaikova, Georgetown University
Will be “Investigating the Role of Microbes in Secondary Mineral Deposits in Lava Caves as Analogs for Subsurface Mars” at Craters of the Moon, Idaho

2016 Selections for the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology

Joany Babilonia, University of Florida
Will be “Unraveling the Global Microbiome Core of Stromatolites” in Ruidera Pool, Spain

Megan Bedell, University of Chicago
Will be “Exploring the Formation of Rocky Worlds with the Solar Twin Planet Search” at the HARPS Spectrograph, Chile

Sarah Black, University of Colorado Boulder
Will examine “Characterization of Secondary Mineralogy in Hydrothermal Systems via Multiple Instrumentation Methods: Implications for Mars” in Costa Rica and Iceland

Kathleen Craft, Johns Hopkins University
Will be “Exploring Hydrothermal Sinter Sites in Iceland and Molecular Biosignature Detection Techniques: A Mars Mission Analog to Exploring Nili Patera” in Iceland

• Research presented at AbSciCon 2017: fact sheet

Aubri Jenson, Texas State University
Will be “Detecting Evidence of Microbially Mediated Carbonate Dissolution in a Submerged Cave” at Cenote San Carlos, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Emily Smith, Smithsonian Institution
Will examine “The Last of the Ediacara Biota at Mt. Dunfee, Nevada”

• Publication in Geological Society of America


• Publication in Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B

Joshua Stanford, Georgia Institute of Technology
Will be “Assessing the Plausibility of Long-Term sedimentary Recycling of Sulfur Isotope Anomalies and the Implications for Atmospheric Evolution on Earth” in the Northern Amazon Craton, Pará, Brazil

Qing Tang, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Will study the “Paleobiology of the Tonian Chuar Group in North America and its implications for the evolution of complex eukaryotes” at the Chuar Group in the Northern Grand Canyon, Arizona

Kyle Uckert, New Mexico State University
Will be “Characterizing the Biogenicity of Manganese Oxides in an Extreme Environment: Fort Stanton Cave as a Solar System Analog” in Fort Stanton Cave, New Mexico

Lewis Ward, California Institute of Technology
Will be “Investigating Uncharacterized Iron-Rich Hot Springs in Japan as Early-Earth and Exoplanet Analogues” at the Jinata Onsen, Tokyo, Japan

2015 Selections for the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology

Ashley Manning-Berg, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Will examine “Preservation of Proterozoic Microbial Mats in the Angmaat Formation, Baffin Island, Canada”

Devon Cole, Yale University
Will assess Oxygenation in the Late Mesoproterozoic, Baffin Island, Canada

Holly Farris, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Will examine “Survivability of Halophiles through Deliquescence in the Atacama Desert, Chile: Implications for Liquid Water Stability and Habitability of the Martian Surface”

Rebecca Greenberger, Brown University
Will engage in “Mapping Mineralogies of Serpentine Seeps at an Ophiolite in Oman: Insights into Microbial Activity”

Leanne Hancock, University of California, Riverside
Will collect samples along the California coast to examine “Redox Variation and Nutrient Controls on Monterey Formation Deposition: A Case Study on Methane Cycling in Borderland Basins and Proximity Controls”

George Kasun, Portland State University
Will study “Recombination Between RNA and DNA Viruses in an Acidic Hot Spring” in Lassen Volcanic National Park, California

Cara Magnabosco, Princeton University
Will conduct “A Comparison of Subsurface Microbial Communities and Function” in northern Portugal

• Article in Princeton Geosciences Newsletter , The Hunt for Microbial Dark Matter in the Deep Terrestrial Subsurface

Charity Phillips-Lander, University of Oklahoma
Will investigate “Trace Metals As Indicators of Microbially-Induced Weathering in Water-Limited Systems: The Snake River Plain (Idaho) as an Analog for Post-Noachian Weathering on Mars”

Arpita Roy, Pennsylvania State University
Will collect data “In the Quest for Habitable Extrasolar Planets: Exploring the full potential of the PARAS Spectrograph in India”

2014 Selections for the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology

Ross Anderson, Yale University
Will examine Preservational Controls on Neoproterozoic-Cambrian (1000 MA – 485 MA) Eukaryotic Fossil Diversity Explored in the Zavkhan Terrane of Southwestern Mongolia

• Publication in Geology, Doushantuo-type microfossils from latest Ediacaran phosphorites of northern Mongolia

Eric Bellefroid, Yale University
Will assess the Effects of Tectonic Change on the Marine Paleoenvironment and Biogeochemical Cycles During the Mesoproterozoic, Borden Basin, Northern Canada

Jacob Cammack, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Will conduct Secondary Ion Microprobe Microanalysis of the Strelley Pool Cherts, Insight Into Fluid Sources, Alteration, and Paleoenvironmental Conditions, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia

Scott Evans, University of California, Riverside
Will examine the Paleoecology of the Iconic Ediacaran Genera Dickinsonia, South Australia

• Scott Evans in UCR Today, Discovering Missing Body Parts of Ancient Fossils
• Publication in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Dickinsonia liftoff: Evidence of current derived morphologies

Breana Hashman, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Will constrain Redox Conditions and Their Potential Role in Climactic Variations of the Mesoarchean as Recorded in the South African Witwatersrand and Pongola Supergroups of the Kaapvaal Craton

Molly Patterson, University of Connecticut
Will study Thrombolite Fabric Development in Hardwater, Marine, and Hypersaline Environments, Green Lake, New York; Highborn Cay, Bahamas; Lake Clifton, Australia

Anna Simpson, University of Washington
Will assess the Effects of Alpine Nitrogen Deposition, Mount Rainier, Washington

Eva Stueeken, University of Washington
Will characterize Nutrient Cycles in Late Precambrian Lakes, Late Mesoproterozoic Torridonian Supergroup, Scotland

Lydia Tarhan, Yale University
Will examine The Silicification of Soft-Bodied Biotas: A Model for Exceptional ‘Ediacara-Style’ Preservation, Flinders Ranges, South Australia

• Publication in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Depositional and preservational environments of the Ediacara Member, Rawnsley Quartzite (South Australia): Assessment of paleoenvironmental proxies and the timing of ‘ferruginization’
• Publication in Geology, Exceptional preservation of soft-bodied Ediacara Biota promoted by silica-rich oceans

2013 Selections for the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology

Elena Amador, University of Washington
Travel to Iceland in support of her project Revealing the Habitability and Microbial Diversity of Icelandic Lava Fields: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Morgan Cable, California Institute of Technology
Travel to Iceland in support of her project Biodiversity and Habitability in Icelandic Lava Fields

Yadira Ibarra, University of Southern California
Travel to England and Wales in support of her project Paleoenvironmental Significance of Microbialites From the Upper Triassic, Southwest United Kingdom, and Relevance to the End Triassic Mass Extinction

• Read Yadira’s paper in Astrobiology, Lateral Comparative Investigation of Stromatolites: Astrobiological Implications and Assessment of Scales of Control
• and her paper in Nature Communications, Mercury anomalies and the timing of biotic recovery following the end-Triassic mass extinction

Ryan Lynch, University of Colorado
Travel to Argentina in support of his project, Understanding the Traits of Chemosynthetic Bacteria From a Martian Analog in the High-Elevation Atacama Region

Muammar Mansor, Pennsylvania State University
Travel to Italy in support of his project, Detecting Biosignatures From Biominerals Formed in Subsurface Caves: Analogue to Mars

Edward Schwieterman, University of Washington
Travel to Italy in support of his project, Assessing the Habitability, Diversity, and Productivity of Mars Analog Environments in Iceland

Christine Solon, University of California–Riverside
Travel to Australia in support of her project, Morphology and Ecology of an Enigmatic Ediacaran Taxon

Sanjoy Som, Blue Marble Space Institute of Science
Travel to Iceland in support of his project, “Hydrogen Production in Basalt-Hosted Hydrothermal Systems”

Kristin Woycheese, University of Illinois–Chicago
Travel to the Philippines in support of her project, Biogeochemistry and Depositional Facies of a Serpentinizing Fluid Seep in the Zambales Range Ophiolites, the Philippines

2012 Selections for the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology

Timothy Gallagher, University of Michigan
Travel to Michigan, Minnesota and Ontario, to study Life on land during the mesoproterozoic: Evidence from the midcontinent rift system

Cara Harwood, University of California, Davis
Travel to Nevada, to examine “Thrombolites as records of microbial-metazoan ecosystems in Cambrian carbonates of the Southern Great Basin, United States”

Jena Johnson, Caltech
Travel to South Africa to investigate Manganese and the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis

Cassandra Marnocha, University of Arkansas
Travel to Sweden to study the Geomicrobiology of rock coatings from Karkevagge, Swedish Lapland

Roy Price, University of Southern California
Travel to New Caledonia, Expanding frontiers for origin of life research: serpentinite-hosted shallow hydrothermal vents

• Report update

Elizabeth Sibert, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego
Travel to Italy to examine Ichthyoliths across the KPg [Cretaceous-Paleogene] boundary: Response of pelagic consumers to a mass extinction

• Read Elizabeth’s article in Nature Geoscience, Resilience of Pacific pelagic fish across the Cretaceous/Palaeogene mass extinction

Erik Sperling, Yale University
Travel to Canada, to study Oxygen, ecology, and the Cambrian radiation of animals: Insights into the origin of complex life from the MacKenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories, Canada

Elizabeth Wilbanks, University of California, Davis
Travel to Massachusetts to investigate A sulfurous symbiosis: The dynamic metatranscriptome of pinkberries in the Sippewissett Salt Marsh

2011 Selections for the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology

Zachary Adam, Montana State University
Travel to the Belt Supergroup, Montana for Characterizing the Mesoproterozoic Microfossil Record of the Belt Supergroup, Montana

Alberto Robador Ausejo, University of Hawaii
Travel to the Juan de Fuca Ridge to study the Biosphere of Subseafloor Basalt Crust

James Caporaso, University of Colorado, Boulder
Travel to the Atacama Desert, Chile for Microbial Community Characterization of the Atacama Desert Soils

Mark Claire, University of Washington
Travel to the Atacama Desert, Chile Searching for the Driest Place on Earth

Alison Conrad, University of California, Santa Cruz
Travel to California and Nevada lakes and hot springs to study, The Microbial Ecology of Anoxygenic Arsenite Oxidizing Photoautotrophs in Extreme Environments

Jessica Corman, Arizona State University
Travel to Cuatro Ciénegas, Mexico to examine Nutrient Limitation as a Factor for Microbialite Formation in Cuatro Ciénegas, México

Sarah Hendrickson, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
Travel to South African mines to examine Dissolved Organic Carbon Cycling in the Deep Crustal Biosphere

Joseph Levy, Portland State University
Travel to Yellowstone National Park to examine “Chimerya: Cryosphere-Hydrothermal Interactions: Mars-Yellowstone Research for Astrobiology”

Jeffrey Marlow, California Institute of Technology
Travel to the Hydrate Ridge, Oregon to assess Carbonate based anaerobic methane oxidation at hydrate ridge methane seeps
Read Jeffrey’s blog posts from the field published in The New York Times:

• September 5, 2011, A Graveyard Shift in Mission Control
• September 7, 2011, Close Encounters With Deep-Sea Samples
• September 20, 2011, Battle of the Subs: Alvin vs. Jason
• August 7, 2013, Return to Hydrate Ridge

Rebecca McCauley, Pennsylvania State University
Travel to the Bahamas to examine Energy-Limited Microbial Communities as an Analog for Archean Life

Timothy Shirey, University of Alabama
Travel to the Atacama Desert, Chile to study the Perchlorate Reduction & Biochemistry in the Atacama Desert: The Searth for Biosignatures of Life in a Martian Analog Environment

Amelinda Webb, Yale University
Travel to Anticosti Island, Quebec for Exploring the Ecological Impact of Mass Extinction: Measuring the Effects of Stress on Communities during the Ordovician-Silurian Mass Extinction on Anticosti Island, Quebec, Canada

2010 Selections for the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology

Knicole Colon, University of Florida
Travel to Spain for her project, From Hot-Jupiters to Super Earths: Characterizing Transiting Extrasolar Planets with GTC/OSIRIS

Andrew Czaja, University of Wisconsin
Travel to Australia for a Field Trip to Explore Archean and Proterozoic Geology of Western Australia

Jason Huberty, University of Wisconsin
Travel to Australia, for the “Fifth International Archean Synposium (51AS) Field Trip to the Pilbara Craton, including the Fortescue and Hamersley Basins”

Michele Knowlton, Arizona State University
Travel to Yellowstone National Park to examine “Nitrogen fixation occurring within microbial mats”

Nancy McKeown, University of California, Santa Cruz
Travel to Arizona, for a “Spectral Study Of the Painted Desert, Arizona, to Characterize Clay Alterations Environments and Provide Implications for Astrobiology at Mawrth Valis, Mars, a Likely Mars Science Laboratory Landing Site

• Read Nancy’s abstract and poster from the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, 2011

Elizabeth Percak-Dennet, University of Wisconsin
Travel to Australia, Linking Laboratory and Field Studies of the Mineralogical and Iron Isotope Composition of Banded Iron Formations in Western Australia

Matthew Urschel, Montana State University
Travel to Alberta, Canada to examine Iron Reduction in the Subglacial Sediments of Robertson Glacier, Canada

2009 Selections for the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology

Jennifer Glass, Arizona State University
Topic: Evaluation of Molybdenum Diagenesis in Sediments of Castle Lake, California

Dominic Papineau, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Topic: Influences of Phosphorous on the Carbon Cycle in the Paleoproterozoic Aravalli Supergroup

Jimmy Saw, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Topic: Single-cell Genome Sequencing of a Novel Gloeobacter from an Epilithic Biofilm in a Hawaiian Basaltic Lava Cave

• Read Jimmy’s PLOS article, Cultivation and Complete Genome Sequencing of Gloeobacter kilaueensis sp. nov., from a Lava Cave in Kilauea Caldera, Hawai’i

Dustin Trail, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Topic: A Field and Geochemical Investigation of the Oldest Known Rocks on Earth: the ca. 4.03 Billion–year-old Acasta Gneiss Complex, Canada

Katherine Wright, University of Colorado at Boulder
Topic: Biomarkers for Sulfur Metabolism in Icy Non-terrestrial Environments

• Read Katherine’s article published in Frontiers in Microbiology, Metagenomic evidence for sulfur lithotrophy by Epsilonproteobacteria as the major energy source for primary productivity in a sub-aerial arctic glacial deposit, Borup Fiord Pass

David J. Smith, University of Washington
Topic: Measuring Polymorphism in Northern Hemisphere Snow Algae Populations

2008 Selections for the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology

Benjamin Black, Stanford University
Topic: Examining the Evidence for Early Life and Environments in the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa

Barbara Cavalazzi, Portland State University
Topic: 3D Electron Tomography of Extreme Environments Fossil Microbes (Rio Salado, Chile): The Problem of Biogenicity and its Detection

Jackie Denson, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Topic: Lake Magadi, Kenya; A Survey of the Microbial Diversity and Microbial Biomarkers Associated with Growth of Microorganisms along Alkaline Gradients in a Saline Rift Valley System

Emiley Eloe, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Topic: Influence of High Hydrostatic Pressure on Microbial Communities from the Puerto Rico Trench

Ian Johnson, Pennsylvania State University
Topic: The Earth’s Oldest (~3.4 Ga) Paleosol, North Polar Dome region of the Pilbara Craton, Australia

Michael Meyer, University of South Florida, Tampa
Topic: Morphological Change Through Time in the Ediacaran Fossil, Pteridinium

Kristen Myshrall, University of Connecticut
Topic: Evaluating the Microbial Constituents and their Metabolisms in Modern Thrombolites: A tool for Interpreting Life on the Ancient Earth and Searching for Life Beyond

Jorge Nunez, Arizona State University
Topic: Mineralogy, Microtexture and Microbial Biosignatures of Siliceous Hydrothermal Spring Deposits in New Zealand , with Applications to Mars Exploration

Noah Planavsky, University of California, Riverside
Topic: Sulfur Isotopes in Paleoproterozoic Carbonates: The Key to Understanding Post Oxygenation Chemical Oceanography
Read Noah’s articles:

• Published in Nature, Widespread iron-rich conditions in the mid-Proterozoic ocean
• Published in PNAS, Sulfur record of rising and falling marine oxygen and sulfate levels during the Lomagundi event

2007 Selections for the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology

Melissa Adams, Stanford University
Topic: Elucidating the in situ Metabolism of Novel Phosphorus Species by Thermophilic Cyanobacteria, Yellowstone National Park

Laura M. Barge, University of Southern California
Topic: Precipitation in Diffusion-Controlled Systems and the Formation of Terrestrial (Utah) and Martian Hematite Concretions

Melissa Hage, University of Tennessee
Topic: Geologic Investigation of Banded Iron Formation from the Isua Greenstone Belt, Southwest Greenland

Katherine J. Harris, University of Oxford
Topic: Geomicrobiology of Mars Analog Lakes in the Andes-High Lakes 2007 Science Expedition

Pablo Sobron, Centro de Astrobiologia, Spain
Topic: Raman Spectroscopy in an Extreme Environment with Astrobiological Implications, Iron Mountain, California

• Published at 41st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2010), LIBS/Raman Investigation of Mars-related sulfates from Iron Mountain, California
• Published at Astrobiology, Raman Spectroscopy of Efflorescent Sulfate Salts from Iron Mountain Mine Superfund Site, California

Nicholas Warner, Arizona State University
Topic: Identification and Collection of Subglacially Derived Volcanic Material on the Outwash Plains of Southern Iceland

• Nicholas Warner in EOS

2006 Selections for the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology

Clara Fuchsman, University of Washington
Topic: Expedition to the Mid-Proterozoic: Understanding the Nitrogen Cycle in the Black Sea Suboxic Zone

Damhnait Gleeson, University of Colorado, Boulder
Topic: The Unique, Sulfur-Rich Icy Ecosystem at Borup Fiord Pass, Ellesmere Island, in the Canadian High Arctic

Brian Hynek, University of Colorado, Boulder
Topic: Mars’ Astrobiology Potential from Cerro Negro Volcano, Nicaragua

Mercedes Lopez-Morales, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Topic: Search for Transits of Extrasolar Planets Using the Swope Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile

• Published in Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Millimagnitude-Precision Photometry of Bright Stars with a 1 m Telescope and a Standard CCD
• Published in Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Limits to Transits of the Neptune‐Mass Planet Orbiting GJ 581

Penny Morrill, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Topic: Identification of Gaseous Hydrocarbon Formation from Ultrabasic Springs in Sonoma County, California

Nicholas Swanson-Hysell, Princeton University
Topic: Integrated Magnetic and Chemical Stratigraphy of the Bitter Springs Stage, Australia

• Swanson-Hysell Receives 2014 William Gilbert Award

Updated: Dec 15, 2022