Please join us in welcoming a new crop of early career astrobiologists into two of the many community-based programs supported by NASA Astrobiology: the 2014 International Summer School in Astrobiology and the NASA Astrobiology Early Career Collaboration Award.

This year’s theme for the 2014 International Summer School in Astrobiology is “Habitable Environments in the Universe.” The school will provide an interdisciplinary examination of the nature and evaluation of habitability, an environment’s ability to support life. The Astrobiology Early Career Collaboration Award offers research-related travel support for undergraduate, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and junior scientists.

2014 Selections for the Astrobiology Program Early Career Collaboration Award

Metthieu Galvez, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Working with Craig Manning at UCLA, “Testing for the Additivity of Mixed Ligand Solutions on Mineral Solubilities”.

Pedro Montalvo Jimenez, University of Puerto Rico
Working with John Valley at the University of Wisconsin on “Identification of Detrital Shocked Minerals”.

Johanna Teske, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Travel to the Mauna Kea Observatory to work with Steve Howell (NASAARC), to the Lowell Observatory to work with Evgenya Shkolnik and to the University of California, Santa Cruz to work with Jonathan Fortney, in support of her project, “Modeling exoplanet atmospheres/stellar composition”.

Xiangli Wang, Yale University
Working with Mukul Sharma at Dartmouth College, examining “Time constraints on the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis”.

Dylan Wilmeth, University of Southern California
Travel to University of Johannesburg, to work with Nicolas Beukes “Investigating local oxygenation of a Neoarchean lake environment, South Africa”

2014 Selections for the International Summer School in Astrobiology

Maximiliano Amenabar
Montana State University
Field: Hydrothermal sulfur metabolism at acidic pH and high temperatures
Advisors: Eric Boyd and John Peters

Angus Angermeyer
Brown University
Field: Extremophilic biofilms and marine microbial biogeography
Advisor: Julie Huber

Abigail Asangba
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Field: Reconstruction of ancient microbial diversity from fossil travertine
Advisor: Bruce W. Fouke

Leah Brandt
The Pennsylvania State University
Field: Geomicrobiology of marine subsurface sediments
Advisor: Chris House

Luoth Chou
University of Illinois at Chicago
Field: The Metabolomics and Metagenomics of the brine of Lake Vida (Antarctica): A biogeochemical analog of icy planetary worlds
Advisor: Fabien Kenig

Katherine de Kleer
University of California, Berkeley
Field: Planetary atmospheres and volcanism in the solar system
Advisor: Imke de Pater

Benjamin Farcy
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
Field: Effects of volatiles on Martian magmatism
Advisor: Justin Filiberto

Peter Gao
California Institute of Technology
Field: Atmospheric modelling and RV detection of M Dwarf exoplanets
Advisors: Yuk L. Yung, Peter P. Plavchan, and Heather A. Knutson

Steven Glaser
Arizona State University
Field: Non-aqueous solvents and the origin of life
Advisor: Everett L. Shock

Caroline Gott
University of California, Riverside
Field: Geochemistry of modern anoxic marine environments
Advisor:Timothy Lyons

Chester (Sonny) Harman
The Pennsylvania State University
Field: Composition and Redox Evolution of Planetary Atmospheres
Advisor: James Kasting

Amanda Labrado
The Pennsylvania State University
Field: Microbial biofilms and their effects on sulfur cycling in the Frasassi caves
Advisor: Jenn Macalady

Erik Larson
University of Colorado
Field: Planetary atmospheric and climate modeling
Advisor: Owen B. Toon

Rebecca Mickol
University of Arkansas
Field: Growth and survivability of methanogens under martian conditions
Advisor: Tim Kral

Marc Neveu
Arizona State University
Field: Habitability of hydrothermal environments on Earth and on icy worlds
Advisor: Steven J. Desch

Divya Peddinti
Arizona State University
Field: Modeling thermochemical convection in ice-water systems with implications for Europa’s astrobiological potential
Advisor: Allen McNamara

Scott Perl
University of Southern California
Field: Geobiology and the habitability of subsurface fluid systems on Mars
Advisor: Frank Corsetti

Sukrit Ranjan
Harvard University
Field: Influence of UV environment on prebiotic chemistry
Advisor: Dimitar Sasselov

Marek Slipski
University of Colorado, Boulder
Field: Modeling the evolution of volatiles in Mars’ atmosphere through isotope ratios
Advisor: Bruce Jakosky

Kamil Stelmach
George Mason University
Field: Investigating the formation mechanisms of methanol in planetary and interstellar ices in a laboratory setting
Advisor: Paul D. Cooper

Matt Tilley
University of Washington
Field: Stellar wind interaction with magnetic fields, and effects on habitability and detectability
Advisor: Erika Harnett

Trista Vick-Majors
Montana State University
Field: Biogeochemistry and microbial physiology in Antarctic aquatic environments
Advisor: John Priscu

Kevin Webster
Indiana University
Field: Methane dynamics of caves
Advisor: Arndt Schimmelmann