I lead the Origins and Habitability Laboratory at JPL. Visit the lab's website for more details about our research, lab news, and facilities. 

Interested in an internship? I take several interns each year, some of whom continue for several years e.g. working on a thesis project. More info here and here. 

Below are the OHL lab members currently working on projects that I supervise. 

Jessica Weber is a JPL Research Scientist and the Co-PI of the Origins and Habitability Laboratory. She has many astrobiology research interests including exploring how protein cofactors behave under early Earth conditions. She earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry from MIT and a B.S. in Chemistry from U of Chicago, and was a JPL Postdoctoral Researcher. 

Chris is an undergraduate Civil Engineering major at Cal State LA with a special interest in structural and environmental engineering. His research focuses on mineral organic chemistry related to iron redox reactions on the prebiotic Earth.

Osama is a JPL Postdoctoral Researcher studying the production of prebiotic organics in a simulated ancient hydrothermal vent system. His research focuses on origin of life and habitability in hydrotheraml vents on Earth and elsewhere.

Cathy is a Master's student in Civil Engineering at Cal State LA. She has her B.S. in Environmental Biology from Cal Poly Pomona and her work focuses on assessing the fate and transport of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in hydrothermal vent systems.

Bonnie is a JPL Postdoctoral Researcher working on the InVADER vent exploration project. Her research focuses on organic geochemistry in hydrothermal systems with applications to ocean worlds, Mars, and life detection.

Katherine is a JPL Postdoctoral Researcher working on astrobiology on ocean worlds, including prebiotic chemistry and phosphorus chemistry under Enceladus conditions. 

Tess is a Ph.D. student in planetary sciences at Caltech. She is working on simulating proto-metabolic reactions driven by chemical garden precipitates under ocean world (Enceladus) conditions.

Matt is a chemistry undergraduate student at the University of Southern California. He is studying prebiotic chemistry in Mars relevant mineral systems, and is a student collaborator with the Mars Science Laboratory team.

Antonio is a Ph.D. student at the Centro de Astrobiologia in Spain. He is working with the OHL on Enceladus prebiotic chemistry and phosphorus chemistry.

Seneca is a doctoral student in Materials Science at Caltech. He is working on creating catalytic scaffolds for prebiotic hydrothermal chimney simulations in the OHL.