Biography

Dr. Edward Goolish has been Deputy Director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute since October of 2006. Prior to that Ed served the NAI in various capacities for six years, most recently as its Assistant Director for Research. Ed came to NASA Ames Research Center in 1994 to conduct research on the adaptation of aquatic vertebrate models to the microgravity environment of space. At the same time, he contributed to the design and development of biological research facilities for the International Space Station, and was involved in several life-science space missions including Neurolab and two flights of CEBAS, the Closed Equilibrated Biological Aquatic System.

Prior to coming to Ames, Ed held postdoctoral positions at the University of Pennsylvania and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He was the recipient of research fellowships from the National Science Foundation and the National Research Council for his work on the adaptation of organisms to the extreme environment of the deep-sea, and on the mechanisms involved in the scaling of metabolism in animals. The author of more than 30 peer-reviewed publications in the area of physiological ecology and astrobiology, Ed was himself first introduced to NASA while at the University of Michigan through a NASA Research Fellowship investigating the response of aquatic models to a simulated microgravity.