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. 

 

 

Current Lab Members

                                                          Jessica Weber

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 Mendoza

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 Alian

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 Trejo

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 Teece

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 Dzurilla

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

                                                            Tess Marlin

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 Luna

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 Garcia

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 Velling

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.

Former Members

 

Name Year Project Academic Programs Current position
Kamilah Bundang 2024 Quinone prebiotic chemistry B.S. Science & Mathematics, College of the Atlantic Undergraduate student
Sophia Riazi-Sekowski 2024 Quinone prebiotic chemistry B.S. Chemistry / Env Science, Colby College Undergraduate student
Jordan Chastain 2024 Nitrates on Mars B.S. Chemical Biology, UC Berkeley Ph.D. student, Caltech
Julia Chavez 2021 - 2024 Saponite hydrothermal systems M.S. Environmental Engineering, CSU-LA Wastewater industry
Nancy Carman 2022 - 2024 Saponite hydrothermal systems M.S. Geosciences, UNLV Ph.D. student, UW-Milwaukee
Dennise Valadez 2019 - 2023 Fe/S redox and prebiotic chemistry on Ceres M.S. Physics, CSU-LA Ph.D. student, Purdue University
Rachel Sheppard 2020 - 2022 Nitrate chemistry on Mars JPL Postdoctoral Researcher Research Scientist, Planetary Science Institute
Billal Zayat 2022 Electrochemical CO2 reduction on Enceladus Ph.D. Chemistry, USC Electrochemical industry
Laura Rodriguez 2019 - 2022 Hydrothermal vent geochemistry JPL Postdoctoral Researcher Research Scientist, Lunar and Planetary Institute
Eduardo Martinez 2018 - 2022 Nitrate redox chemistry M.S. Civil Engineering, CSU-LA Ph.D. student, UNLV
Erika Flores 2015 - 2022 Organic / phosphorus chemistry on early Earth M.S. Environmental Engineering, CSU-LA Wastewater industry
Medha Prakash 2021 CO2 reduction on early Earth and Mars B.S. Environmental Science, U. of Virginia Undergraduate student
Sarah Lamm 2021 Raman / LIBS analysis of iron minerals M.S. Geology, Kansas State Ph.D. student, U. of Kansas
Jonathan Major 2017 - 2020 Phosphorus chemistry  M.S., Geoscience, University of Tulsa Ph.D. student, U. of South Florida
Michelle Hooks 2017 - 2019 Chemical gardens Education and Biology - USC NASA Johnson Space Center
Ninos Hermis 2017 - 2020 Electrochemistry / hydrothermal chimneys M.S., Physics and Geology - CSU-LA Ph.D. student, LMU-Munich
Hiroki Nishumura 2018 Organic / phosphorus adsorption on iron minerals Marine Science - Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology Graduate Student
Jason Pagano 2018-2019 Chemical gardens Professor, Saginaw Valley State U. - sabbatical visitor at JPL Associate Professor of Chemistry
Jemma Dickson 2019 Microbes in hydrothermal vent chimneys Chemistry and marine science - College of the Atlantic Undergraduate student
Thora Maltais 2017 Origin of metabolism JPL postdoc (Ph.D. Purdue - Chemistry) JPL Contamination Control Engineer
Sarah Crucilla 2019 Origin of metabolism Caltech - Geology Ph.D. student, Harvard
Ryan Cameron 2016-2017 Carbon fixation  Tulsa Community College; CSU Northridge Landscape management
Yeghegis Abedian 2013-2017 Electrochemistry of chimneys; phosphorus chemistry UC San Diego - Nanoengineering Shire Pharmaceuticals
Arden Hammer 2016 summer Hydrothermal organics and minerals Oberlin College - Chemistry Undergraduate student at Oberlin
Timothy Lin 2015, 2013 summers Carbon fixation UC Riverside - Biology Medical student at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Arlette Valencia 2015 summer Metastable minerals, green rust Citrus College Undergraduate student at Oregon Institute of Technology, Electrical and Optical Engineering
Jessica Nunez 2014 summer

Hydrothermal chimneys

BMSIS Young Researcher

Citrus College Graduate of UC Berkeley, Mechanical Engineering
Nery Rafael 2012 fall -2013 Hydrothermal vent simulations CSU Long Beach - Biochemistry Quality Control Chemist, Grifols Biologicals Inc.
John Zeytounian 2012 Electrochemistry of iron sulfides University of Southern California, Molecular and Computational Biology  
Ivria Doloboff 2011-2015 Chemical gardens, phosphorus chemistry CSU Long Beach / Santa Monica College  
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