About the NASA Astrobiology ECCA Award

The NASA Astrobiology Early Career Collaboration Award (ECCA) offers research-related travel support for undergraduate and graduate students, postdocs, and early career scientists. Applicants are encouraged to use this award to circulate among two or more laboratories supported by the  NASA Astrobiology Program, including Research Coordination Networks (RCNs), Interdisciplinary Consortia for Astrobiology Research (ICAR), Solar System Science, or other relevant proposals or missions, but any travel that is critical for the applicant’s research will be considered.

This award is typically solicited twice each year, once in the Fall (October) and once in the Spring (April). These awards cover travel expenses only: airfare, lodging, and meals. Opportunities that include multiple institutions to achieve proposed collaboration goals (e.g., test the same sample at different instrumentation facilities) are encouraged. 

Resources for funding are limited so the same applicant is unlikely to be selected for multiple Astrobiology Program opportunities (e.g., Early Career Collaboration Award, Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration Field Research in Astrobiology). Previous ECCA awardees who reapply to the program within a 5-year time span with a different ECCA project are not eligible.  Proposed trips should be scheduled for three weeks or less in duration. Trips that are more appropriate as internships are outside of the scope of this award. 

Eligibility: Applicants must be formally affiliated with a U.S. institution

Award Amount: $5,000 maximum

Next Deadline: April 15, 2026

Previous ECCA Selections

2025

Samuel Courville, Arizona State University, traveled to the Carnegie Institute of Science in to collaborate on the project, “Hydrothermal Alteration of Macromolecular Organic Matter within Ocean Worlds”.

Andrew Shumway, Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington, traveled to the Stony Brook University and Washington University in St. Louis to work on the project, “Investigating Brine-forming Salts via Laboratory and Rover X-ray Spectroscopy."

Deepali Singh, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, collaborated with Dr. Gaia Stucky de Quay at Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a project called, "Hydrologic Recurrence and Habitability on Mars: Integrating Remote and Experimental Simulation".

Jorge Armando Montiel Molina, University of Arizona, sailed in on an expedition to the Sea of Cortez (from Baja California Sur, Mexico) to investigate "Hunting of microbial extremophiles on the forgotten California peninsula" with collaborator Dr. Giffard-Mena (University of Baja California).

Sarah Gonzalez Henao, Michigan State University, pursued a collaboration at the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography (MIO) in France on a project titled, "Microbial Biofilms in Serpentinizing Ecosystems: Exploring Life at the Extremes".

Alexia Kubas, Cornell University, collaborated on "Investigating Permeabilities of Planetary Analog Brine-Regolith Mixtures at Frozen Temperatures" with colleagues at Dartmouth University.

Ilankuzhali Elavarasan, University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley, traveled to the Jet Propulsion Lab to work with Edith Fayolle on her project, “Europa Surface Biosignature Evolution”.

Alivia Eng, Georgia Tech, traveled to work with Nicolas Thomas at the University of Bern (Zurich, Switzerland), on her project, “Using CaSSIS multispectral data to expand past habitable environments identified by the Curiosity rover”.

Samuel Hall, University of Cincinnati, traveled to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis to work for two weeks with Xinyuan Zheng to complete the project, “Water Depth of a Neoarchean Carbonate Platform: Constraining the Metabolic Pathways of Ancient Microorganisms”.

Cindy Luu, University of Texas San Antonio, traveled to the University of California Santa Cruz to collaborate with Artyom Aguichine, Xi Zhang, and Jonathan Fortney on project, “Unifying Geochemistry and Photochemistry in the Interiors of Volatile-Rich Sub-Neptunes”.

Vinitra Nathan, Boston University, traveled to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, to work with Heather Graham on the project, “Biomass Wanted ‘Dead’ or ‘Alive’: Improving resolution and agnostic life detection utility of x-ray fluorescence microscopy”.

Tejinder Singh, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, traveled to NASA Ames Research Center, to collaborate with Niki Parenteau on the project, “Desert Lichens as Models for High-UV irradiated Exoplanet Life”.

2024

Kaustubh Amritkar, University of Wisconsin-Madison, traveled to Seoul National University to work with Martin Steinegger on the project, “Engineering Ancient Nitrogenases for Functional Characterization.” 

Frederica Calabrese, Boston University, traveled to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to collaborate with Heather Graham on the project, “Maximizing the potential of X-ray fluorescence for agnostic interpretation of mineral composition and microbial habitation with astrobiological relevance.”

Rui-Lin Cheng, Cornell University, collaborated with Andy Czaja (University of Cincinnati) on the project, “Characterizing organic matter in opaline silica sinters from Chile utilizing Raman spectroscopy with relevance to the search for biosignatures on Mars.”

Katherine Dzurilla, Jet Propulsion Lab, traveled to the College of Charleston to collaborate with Jay Forsythe on the project, “Limitations of Peptide Formation on Enceladus.” A publication, "Sample Preparation for MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry of Model Prebiotic Reactions in Simulated Ocean World Environments," and an AbSciCon 2026 poster resulted from this work.

Luis Felipe Benites, Arizona State University, collaborated with Chris Kempes at the Santa Fe Institute on “Evolution of complexity in viruses and implications for astrobiology: from atoms and genomes to biospheres”.

Ethan Edmans, Arizona State University, traveled to the University of Minnesota to work with William Seyfried, in support of “Investigating hydrothermal systems as a source of biologically relevant trace metals”.

Bethan Gregory, University of Colorado, Boulder, worked with Mark Claire (Blue Marble Space Institute of Science) on “Triple Oxygen Isotope Photochemical Modeling and Applications to the Composition of the Early Earth Atmosphere”.

Carolynn Harris, Dartmouth College, collaborated with Sebastian Kopf at the University of Colorado, Boulder, on “Characterizing lipid distributions and isotopic compositions in terrestrial hydrothermal springs with relevance to astrobiology”.

Alta Howells, NASA Ames Research Center, traveled to the University of Colorado, Boulder to work with Sebastian Kopf on “Examining Methanogen Adaptations to Carbon Limitation in Serpentinizing Systems”.

Kelly Tingle, Vanderbilt University, collaborated with Frankie Dunn and Ross Anderson at the University of Oxford, in support of “A new search for the oldest eukaryotes in the 1.9-billion-year-old Gunflint Chert”.

William Wallentine, University of Tennessee Knoxville, collaborated with Jennifer Eigenbrode at the Goddard Space Flight Center, on his project “Characterizing lipid bilayer content in Antarctic microbes from a hypersaline pond in cold and chaotropic conditions”.

2023

Taylor Burchard, University California, Riverside, worked with Scott Perl at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to examine “Bacteria-virus evolution in hypersaline environments”.

Vince Esposito, NASA Ames Research Center, collaborated with Ryan Fortenberry and Alessandra Candian, at the University of Mississippi and the University of Amsterdam, on “Spectroscopy of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons”.

Jose Valera, University California, Santa Barbara, traveled to visit Scott Perl at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in support of “Determining the biogenic characteristics and preservation of halophilic microorganisms within evaporite minerals”.

Shiva Agarwal, Western Michigan University, worked with Sungsool Wi at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, a facility at Florida State University, the University of Florida, in support of “Probing Shielding Tensor Components of Amino Acids using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance”.

Victoria Cassady, University of Southern California, traveled to the Pennsylvania State University to work with Frank Corsetti, “Combining Dual Clumped Isotopes and Fluorescently Labelled Embedded Coring to Understand Drivers of Microbial Carbonate Morphogenesis, Green Lake, NY and Little Hot Creek, CA”.

Saleheh Ebadirad, University of California, Riverside, worked with Greg Fournier at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for “A Phylogenetic Investigation into the origin and early evolution of methanogenesis and methanotrophy”.

Michael Kipp, California Institute of Technology, collaborated with Jochen Brocks at the Australian National University on “Deciphering the role of nitrogen availability in the Neoproterozoic emergence of eukaryotes”.

Taylor Plattner, Georgia Institute of Technology, traveled to collaborate with Jessica Weber at the Jet Propulsion laboratory, in support of “Understanding the surrounding geology and preservation potential through wet/dry cycles in acidic saline lakes in Western Australia”.

2022

Stuart Bartlett, Caltech, traveled to the University of Trento in support of “Bringing Chemical Agents to Life: Learning Behaviour in Emergent Dissipative Structures”, with Silvia Holler.

Schuyler Borges, Northern Arizona University, worked on the project “Scanning Electron Microscopy & Elemental Mapping of Antarctic Carbonate Structures from an Ephemeral Stream” with Erica Barlow and Georgia Soares at Pennsylvania State University.

Zoë Havlena, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, traveled to Goddard Space Flight Center to work with Heather Graham, on “Investigating gypsum from active and relict sulfuric acid cave deposits as a potential repository of microbial biomarkers”.

Emmy Hughes, Georgia Institute of Technology, traveled to Sri Lanka, with James Wray, to collaborate on “Characterizing the Mineralogy, Geochemistry and Habitability of Sri Lanka’s Serpentine Zone”.

Chinmayee Govinda Raj, Georgia Institute of Technology, traveled to NASA Ames Research Center for “Instrument development for Europan salts: electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) on microfluidic platforms for in-situ planetary missions”, with Diana Gentry.

Marcos Jusino Maldonado, University of Puerto Rico, worked on “Modeling Abiotic Sulfur Cycling” with Henderson Jim Cleaves at the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Justin Lawrence, Georgia Institute of Technology, traveled to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, in San Diego, in support of “Analyzing samples from the Ross Ice Shelf grounding line and adjacent environments.” The resulting AbSciCon 2022 abstract was, “The Influence of Ice and Ocean Interactions on Microbial Communities under Ice Shelves.

Holly Rucker, University of Wisconsin-Madison, worked with Roger Buick at the University of Washington, on “Characterizing Ancient Nitrogenases”.

Arnaud Salvador, Northern Arizona University, traveled to the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies to work with Michael Wray to study “Thermo-chemical evolution of early magma oceans in interaction with their outgassed atmosphere”.

Jessica Weber, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, worked with Jennifer Stern and Bethany Theiling at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center on “Nitrogen isotopic distribution of prebiotic reactions”.

2020

Leticia De Marchi, Auburn University, collaborated with Dr. Jens Ormo (Centro de Astrobiologia), for “Numerical and experimental investigations of Wetumpka impact crater”.

Bradley Garczynski, Purdue University, conducted analyses of minerals with Drs. Linda Kah (U Tennessee) and Ken Williford (JPL) on the project, “Developing strategies for searching for potential biosignatures in Jezero crater with Mars 2020.”

Kennda Lynch, Lunar and Planetary Institute, traveled to analyze samples with Dr. Amy Williams (U of Florida) then travel to visit Dr. Sarah Stewart (Georgetown U) to develop a new tool in support of “Working Towards Life Detection Capability in Subsurface Transitional Habitable Zones on Mars”.

Kaitlyn McGrath, University of Arizona, visited Uppsala University, to collaborate with Dr. Suparna Sanyal, in support of “Exploring the Evolution of Translation Machinery”.

Kalen Rasmussen, Colorado School of Mines, collaborated with Dr. Frank Corsetti at the Universty of Southern California, to investigate “A Novel Role for Iron Redox Cycling in the Lithification of Microbial Mats and Biogenicity Within the Rock Record”.

Merve Yesilbas, SETI Institute, traveled to Saint Louis, MO, to collaborate with Dr. Pablo Sobron on “Following the water on Mars: A molecular study for understanding near surface brines on Mars and Icy Worlds”.

2019

Andrea Corpolongo, University of Cincinnati, traveled to South Africa and the University of California, Santa Barbara, to study “Microfossil assemblages in the late Neoarchean Campbellrand-Malamani carbonate platform succession in South Africa, in collaboration with Nicolas Beukes and Susannah Porter.”

Andréa Hughes, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, traveled to visit with Michael Chaffin (Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado at Boulder) for her project, “Phenomenology of Proton Aurorae at Mars as Observed by MAVEN/IUVS”.

Philip Myint, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, collaborated with Drs. J. Michael Brown and Baptiste Journaux (University of Washington) in support of his project “Developing a multiphase water equation of state for astrobiology: focus on ice VII”.

Anna Simpson, Georgia Institute of Technology, tested new field equipment and sampling techniques in collaboration with Drs. Sean Scully and Oddur Vilhelmsson at University of Akuryeri in Iceland, for the project “Inside and underneath: A preliminary study of current Mars rover sampling techniques”.

Richard Stockey, Stanford University, collaborated with Drs. Andy Ridgwell (University of California, Riverside) and Noah Planavsky (Yale University), in support of “Testing the role of oxygen and temperature change in establishing persistently habitable environments for complex metazoan ecosystems”. The publication that resulted is Decreasing Phanerozoic extinction intensity as a consequence of Earth surface oxygenation and metazoan ecophysiology.

Trent Thomas, University of California, Los Angeles, traveled to Switzerland to collaborate with Dr. Kevin Heng and others, for his project to examine “Exoplanet Climate Modeling using the Exoclimes Solution Platform”.

Havishk Tripathi, Rutgers University, traveled to the Earth Life Science Institute to collaborate with J. Henderson Cleaves, Mattheiu Lanneuiville, and Sebastian Danielache, to apply "Machine learning and neural networks to predict atmospheric chemistry and to develop a planet-scale model of non-biological nitrogen cycling for the detection of planet scale biosignatures on exoplanets."

2018

Joy Buongiorno, Carnegie Institution of Washington, collaborated with Dr. Donato Giovanelli (University of Naples Federico II), in support of her project, “The coevolution of microbial communities and their geologic environments”.

Luoth Chou, University of Illinois, Chicago, collaborated with Dr. Josef Werne (University of Pittsburg), in support of “Characterizing the intact polar lipids of an Antarctic cryoencapsulated hypersaline brine: implication for the habitability of icy planetary worlds”.

Andrew Gangidine, University of Cincinnati, conducted field research with Martin Van Kranendonk (University of New South Wales) to explore “A Step Back in Time – Ancient Hot Springs and the Search for Life on Mars”.

Amanda Garcia, University of California, Los Angeles, traveled to the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, to work on the project, “Molecular evolution tools for the reconstruction of ancestral nitrogenases”.

Zachary Garvin, Princeton University, conducted field research with researchers at the Center for Genomics, Ecology & Environment (GEMA) at Universidad Mayor in Santiago, Chile and followed this with analysis in the lab of Dr. Eric Boyd at Montana State University, to examine “Biodiversity, biogeography and microbial carbon cycling of hot spring communities in the high Andean plateau with implications for early Mars”.

Bridget Lee, University of California, Riverside, traveled to Yale University, to collaborate with Dr. Noah Planavsky, to study “Banded Iron formations (BIFs): Key to the Rise of Atmospheric Oxygen”.

Bridget Lee, University of California, Riverside, conducted a visit to Yale University, to collaborate with Dr. Noah Planavsky, to answer the question “ Was the Paleoproterozic Surface Ocean Oxic?”

Zijian Li, Georgia Institute of Technology, collaborated with Dr. Jeremy Owens at Florida State University, to investigate “A thallium isotope record of ocean oxygenation during the Lomagundi Event”.

Devan Nisson, Princeton University, traveled to South Africa for field studies, then to the Pennsylvania State University for collaboration with Dr. Kate Freeman and to the University of Toronto to work with Dr. Barbara Sherwood-Lollar, for her project to examine “Biotic and Abiotic Organic Signatures Present in a 3.4 km Deep Brine with Implications for Subsurface Life on Mars”.

Jesse Phillips, University of Tulsa, traveled to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to collaborate with Dr. Laurie Barge, on “A Novel Method for Analyzing Nano-Scale Surface Redox Chemistry of Prebiotic Mineral Catalysts”.

Kenneth Seaton, Georgia Institute of Technology, traveled to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to collaborate with Dr. Isik Kanik on “Hypervelocity Capture and Analysis of Simulated Enceladus Plume Materials”.

Alexander Sousa, University of Rhode Island, traveled to Japan and Boulder, Colorado, to work on, “Participation in D/V Chikyu Core Logging Activity: Investigating Mineralogical Context and Organic Material in Serpentinizing Systems”.

2017

Saehyun Choi, Pennsylvania State University, collaborated with Laurie Barge (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), “Combining organic-rich coacervates with hydrothermal vent systems as a model for prebiotic compartmentalization”.

Andréa Hughes, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, collaborated with Michael Chaffin (Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado at Boulder) on “Assessing the Evolution and Variability of Hydrogen in the Martian Atmosphere.”

Ashley Manning-Berg, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, traveled to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to collaborate with Kenneth Williford and Michael Tuite, for her project, “Preservation of Proterozoic Microbial Mats”.

Jana Meixnerova, University of Washington, Seattle, traveled to the SesameLab, Department of Geological Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington to collaborate with Drs. Laura Wasylenki and Shui-Jiong Wang, on “Investigating the role of methanogens in the Great Oxidation Event using Ni isotopes.”

Alexandra Pontrefact, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, collaborated with Kenneth Williford and Rohit Bhartia at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on an “Investigation of microbial colonization in shocked basaltic targets”.

Caleb Schuler, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, collaborated with Dale Winebrenner and Tim Elam, at the University of Washington, Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in support of his project, “Planetary Protection and the Exploration of the Cryosphere”.

William Shoemaker, Indiana University, visited Victoria Orphan at the California Institute of Technology to study “Microbial dormancy and adaptation to energy-limitation”.

Michael Strange, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, collaborated with James Schiffbauer at the University of Missouri to examine “Organo-mineral structures within Ediacaran tubicolous fossils: evidence of modern or ancient Fe oxidizing bacterial communities?”.

Ziming Yang, Oakland University, collaborated with George Cody at the Carnegie Institution of Washington to examine amino acid synthesis and transformation in hydrothermal systems.

2016

Steffen Bueseccher, Arizona State University, collaborated with Hiroshi Imanaka (NASA Ames Research Center), “Deciphering the role of abiotic N2O formation on atmospheric N2O in the Archaean and implications on the faint young Sun paradox.”

Ben Galeota-Sprung, University of Pennsylvania, traveled to University of Pittsburgh to collaborate with Vaughn Cooper to examine how the mutation rate evolves over time.

Daniel Gregory, University of California, Riverside, visited Steve Romaniello and Aleisha Johnson at Arizona State University to examine the rates and mechanisms of pyrite oxidation.

Sally Potter-McIntyre, Southern Illinois University, traveled to Utah for fieldwork and to the University of Colorado, Boulder to work with Tom McCollom to analyze the origin and history of jarosite.

Mary Sabuda, Michigan State University, traveled to the Hoehler lab at NASA Ames and to the CROMO field site in support of “Investigations of Methane, Sulfur, and Iron in the Serpentinite Subsurface using Depth-Resolved Biogeochemical Analyses, Stable Isotope Geochemistry, and Microcosm Approaches.”

Zhirui Zeng, Stanford University, traveled to the Summons lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to examine Archaeal Lipid Biomarker GDGTs Biosynthesis.

Paul Brandon Carroll, California Institute of Technology, collaborated with Dr. Brett McGuire at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory to explore the origin of the homochirality of life, through examination of the origins of the first interstellar chiral molecule, propylene oxide, by mapping its distribution using the Australia Telescope Compact Array in Marsfield, New South Wales, Australia.

Jessie Griffith and Karina Kunka, Kenyon College, collaborated with Dr. Shiladitya DasSarma, of the University Maryland School of Medicine, on experimental evolution of Halobacterium sp. NRC-1 to understand the impact of Mars conditions on mutations that may favor survival under stress. The resulting publication, “Acid Experimental Evolution of the Haloarchaeon Halobacterium sp. NRC-1 Selects Mutations Affecting Arginine Transport and Catabolism,” appears in Frontiers in Microbiology.

2015

Daniel Angerhausen, Goddard Space Flight Center, collaborated with Antonio García Muñoz (ESA Scientific Support Office) and the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) team, and with Andrea Chiavassa (CNRS) and members of the Thermodynamics, Disequilibrium and Evolution (TDE) Focus Group on "Sniffing Alien Atmospheres: Exoplanet spectrophotometry".

Zach Grochau-Wright, University of Arizona, traveled to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County to work with Dr. Stephen Miller on his project, "Evolution of the Genetic Basis for Cellular Differentiation in the Volvocine Green Algae".

Peter Ilhardt, Carnegie Institution of Washington, visited James Moran, at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, to examine microstructures in a Neoarchaean stromatolite using Laser Ablation Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (LA-IRMS).

Joshua Krissansen‐Totton, University of Washington, traveled to Goddard Space Flight Center to meet with Avi Mandell and Shawn Domagal-Goldman, members of the Virtual Planetary Laboratory team, and Harley Thronson’s study team, for mission planning for the next generation of space telescopes to search for life on exoplanets. The resulting paper, “Is the Pale Blue Dot Unique? Optimized Photometric Bands for Identifying Earth-Like Exoplanets”, was published in the Astrophysics Journal.

Kira Lorber, University of Cincinnati, worked on diversity and evolution of early fossil microorganisms with Kenneth Williford at JPL and John Valley at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Jeff Osterhout, University of Cincinnati, traveled to work with Kenneth Williford at JPL and John Valley at the University of Wisconsin, Madison to perform in situ carbon isotope analyses of microfossils. A resulting presentation, Stable Isotope Geochemistry of a Late Archean Microbial Ecosystem: Diversity in the Pre-GOE Oceans, was presented at GSA 2017.

Ben Placek, Schenectady County Community College, worked with an international team of collaborators through the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) on the application of Bayesian methods to the analysis of the Kepler light curves of transiting exoplanets.

Natasha Batalha, Goddard Space Flight Center and Pennsylvania State University, collaborated with Nikku Madhusdan (University of Cambridge) to identify, optimize, and apply atmospheric retrieval tools to analyze
JWST transit simulations and observing modes.

Rafael Loureiro, Ave Maria University, visited Drs. Lynn Rothschild and Ivan Paulino-Lima, at NASA Ames Research Center, to generate a prediction model capable of identifying potentially habitable zones in exoplanets.

Lynnae Quick, Goddard Space Flight Center and Planetary Science Institute, visited Drs. Mary Schweitzer and Reza Ghiladi, at North Carolina State University, to investigate Porphyrins and Tetrapyrroles as Biomarkers for Extraterrestrial Life.

Lauren Seyler, Michigan State University, traveled to the University of Southern California (Jan Amend) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Michael Russell) on her project, "Microbial Community Structuring and Metabolite Efflux in Prebiotic Hydrothermal Bioreactors".

Svetlana Shkolyar, Arizona State University, traveled to the lab of Dr. Michael Daly, York University, Toronto, Canada, in support of her project Raman Spectroscopy for Fossil Biosignature and Mineral Identification on Mars: Challenges and Pathways Forward for Mars Sample Return Missions. The resulting publication, “Detecting Kerogen as a Biosignature Using Colocated UV Time-Gated Raman and Fluorescence Spectroscopy”, appears in Astrobiology.

2014

Metthieu Galvez, Carnegie Institution of Washington, worked with Craig Manning at UCLA on “The solubility of rocks in metamorphic fluids: A model for rock-dominated conditions to upper mantle pressure and temperature.” The resulting publication appears in Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

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

Johanna Teske, Carnegie Institution of Washington, traveled 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, traveled to work with Mukul Sharma at Dartmouth College, examining Time constraints on the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis.

Dylan Wilmeth, University of Southern California, traveled to University of Johannesburg, to work with Nicolas Beukes Investigating local oxygenation of a Neoarchean lake environment, South Africa. “Neoarchean (2.7 Ga) lacustrine stromatolite deposits in the Hartbeesfontein Basin, Ventersdorp Supergroup, South Africa: Implications for oxygen oases,” was the resulting publication in Precambrian Research

Giada Arney, University of Washington, worked with Shawn Domagal-Goldman at the Goddard Space Flight Center, on Observer Simulations for Future Exoplanet-Related Missions.
Two papers resulted from this collaboration, “Pale Orange Dot: The Spectrum and Habitability of Hazy Archaen Earth”, in Astrobiology, and “Is the Pale Blue Dot Unique? Optimized Photometric Bands for Identifying Earth-Like Exoplanets”, in Astrophysics Journal.

Paul Brandon Carroll, California Institute of Technology, worked with Brett McGuire of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, at the Parkes Radio Telescope, on the “Origin of the Homochirality Of Life,” which was published in Science.

Jemma Davidson, Carnegie Institution of Washington, traveled to visit Dr. A. L. David Kilcoyne, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Advanced Light Source Synchrotron, in support of her project, Spectral Analyses of Extraterrestrial Organic Matter.

Michael Line, University of California, Santa Cruz, worked with Victoria Meadows at the University of Washington to determine the detection significances of molecules in hot-Jupiter atmospheres, and to set up an atmospheric retrieval pipeline, and with Mark Swain, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to refine the mission specifications and goals of the FINESSE mission.

Eric Parker, Georgia Institute of Technology, traveled to work with Jason Dworkin at the Goddard Space Flight Center on “Investigating Geochemical Conditions of the early Earth”.

Mary Beth Wilhelm, Georgia Institute of Technology, traveled to work with Jennifer Eigenbrode at the Goddard Space Flight Center and Roger Summons at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Lipid Biomarker Preservation in the Hyperarid Core of the Atacama Desert.

2013

Zachary R. Adam, Montana State University, traveled to the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA to learn new tools to incorporate a newly discovered fossil assemblage from 1.5 billion-year-old rocks in Montana into a framework for the early evolution of eukaryotes on Earth.

Rebecca Mickol, University of Arkansas, traveled to the University of Florida Space Life Sciences Laboratory at the Kennedy Space Center to conduct experiments with anaerobic methanogens in the Mars Simulation Chamber of Dr.Andrew Schuerger and Dr. Wayne Nicholson.

Harry Oduro, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, collaborated with James Farquhar, at the University of Maryland, College Park, on distinguishing the origin of sulfur isotope anomalies in Archean and meteoritic organic sulfonic acids.

Sarah Sonnett, University of Hawaii, participated in an observing run on the 6.5-meter Magellan Baade telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, to test models that look at volatiles and their distribution in the outer solar system.

Michael Chaffin, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado at Boulder, traveled to the Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales, to work with Franck Montmessin, CNRS Senior Scientist, on a project called, “Collaborating with LATMOS in Extending Analysis of Martian Water Escape”.
The resulting publication is, “Elevated atmospheric escape of atomic hydrogen from Mars induced by high-altitude water,” in Nature Geoscience.

Dalton Hardisty, University of California, Riverside, traveled to the laboratories of Zunli Lu, Syracuse University and David Johnston, Harvard University, to evaluate trace oxygen production prior to the Great Oxidation Event using a novel combination of rare sulfur isotope fractionations and iodine-to-calcium ratios in well-preserved Archean carbonate rocks. The resulting paper, “Perspectives on Proterozoic surface ocean redox from iodine contents in ancient and recent carbonate,” appears in Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Roy Price, Stony Brook University, traveled to New Caledonia for Exploration of a shallow‐sea serpentinite‐hosted Lost City analog.

2012

Jeremy Owens, University of California, Riverside, traveled to Harvard University to conduct research in the laboratory of David Johnston.

Laura Rodriguez, Rice University, traveled to the Mojave and Atacama Deserts to conduct research with Alfonso Davila.

Sandra Siljeström, Carnegie Institution of Washington, traveled to NASA Ames Research Center and Yellowstone National Park, to collaborate with Linda Jahnke and Niki Parenteau.

2011

Betül Kacar, Georgia Institute of Technology, traveled to Michigan State to conduct research with Richard Lenski.

Amy Kelly, University of California, Riverside, traveled to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to conduct research with Timothy Lyons and Gordon Love.

Rachel Maxwell, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, visited Lutterzand (the Netherlands), Lommel (Belgium), and St. Petersburg (Russia) to collect Late Pleistocene sediments that may record an extraterrestrial (ET) impact.

Daniel Christian, Old Dominion University, conducted fieldwork in the 2.7 Ga old Tumbiana Formation, Western Australia and searched for sedimentary microbially induced sedimentary structures (MISS) that have been caused by early microbial mats.

Wil Leavitt, Harvard University, traveled to Portugal to conduct enzyme kinetic analyses of isolated dissimilatory sulfate reductases.

2010

Meredith Perry worked on "Proterozoic Stromatolites and The Search for Life on Mars". The resulting publication, “The structure and chemical layering of Proterozoic stromatolites in the Mojave Desert,” was published in the International Journal of Astrobiology.

Erin Yargicoglu, worked on "2010 Astrobiology Survey of Springs in the North Anatolian Fault Zone: Windows into the deep terrestrial biosphere".

Weifu Guo, Carnegie Institution of Washington, conducted trips to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California to work in the laboratory of Lance Christensen.

Amy Kelly, University of California, Riverside, traveled to Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona to conduct research with Ariel Anbar.

Anna Roussanova, University of Hawaii, participated in the Saas-Fee Winter School on Habitability, Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland.