Team

Who We Are

We are a group of observational astronomers, astrophysicists, geodynamicists, petrologists, high- and low-temperature geochemists, climate scientists, fluid dynamicists, and organic chemists from Rice University, NASA Johnson Space Center, University of California at Davis, University of California at Los Angeles, and University of Colorado at Boulder collaborating with researchers from other institutions under the NASA NExSS research network to answer questions about habitability of rocky planets in our solar system to better understand the habitability of exoplanets.

Principal Investigator

Rajdeep Dasgupta

Petrologist/Geochemist
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Co-Investigators

Andrea Isella


Astronomer
Rice University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Houston, TX

Hilke Schlichting

Astrophysicist
University of California - Los Angeles, Department of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences, Los Angeles, CA

Sarah Stewart

Planetary Physicist
University of California - Davis, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Davis, CA

Cin-Ty Lee


Petrologist/Geochemist
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Adrian Lenardic

Geodynamicist
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Pedram Hassanzadeh

Fluid Dynamicist
Rice University, Depts. of Mechanical Engineering & Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Francis McCubbin

Experimental Petrologist/ Meteoriticist
NASA Johnson Space Center, Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science, Houston, TX

Aaron Burton


Organic Geochemist
NASA Johnson Space Center, Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science, Houston, TX

Tom McCollom

Planetary Geochemist
University of Colorado - Boulder, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics

Laurence Yeung

Low-Temperature Geochemist
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Collaborators

Christopher Johns-Krull

Astronomer
Rice University, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Houston, TX

Kathleen Vander Kaaden

Experimental Petrologist
Jacobs Technology/NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX

Bernard Marty


Geochemist
Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Géologie, Université de Lorraine and Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, Nancy, France

Mark Torres


Low-Temperature Geochemist
Geology & Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

David Alexander


Solar & Exoplanetary Physicist
Rice University, Space Institute, Houston, TX

Ding Ma


Atmospheric Modeller
The Earth Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY

Paul Niles

Planetary Surface Geochemist
NASA Johnson Space Center, Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science, Houston, TX​

Alexander Smirnov


Geologist
Dept. of Geology, Lone Star College, Kingwood, TX

Brian Monteleone


Geologist
Geology & Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Woods Hole, MA

Jeremy Boyce


Geochemist
NASA Johnson Space Center, Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science, Houston, TX

Postdoctoral Researchers

Duncan Keller

Metamorphic Petrologist/ Mineralogist Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Vincent Clesi

Experimental Petrologist/ Geochemist
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Graduate Students

Ramon Wrzosek

Astrophysicist
Rice University, Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, Houston, TX

Morgan Underwood

Planetary Scientist
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Debjeet Pathak

Experimental Petrologist/ Geochemist
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Aindrila Pal

Experimental Petrologist/ Geochemist
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Anna Johnson

Experimental Petrologist/ Geochemist
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Undergraduate Students

Ainsley Ganti

Undergraduate Research Assistant
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Naidhruv Iyer

Undergraduate Research Assistant
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Interns

None currently

Alumni

André Izidoro

Astrophysicist
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Maxime Maurice

Geodynamicist/ Planetary Scientist
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Cedric Gillman

Planetary Scientist
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Johnny Seales

Geodynamicist
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Asa Stahl

Astrophysicist
Rice University, Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, Houston, TX

Katherine Plaza

Undergraduate Research Assistant
Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

Laura Flagg

Astrophycisist
Rice University, Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, Houston, TX

Yi Hou

Stable Isotope Geochemist
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Kyusei Tsuno

Experimental Petrologist/ Geochemist
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Damanveer Grewal

Experimental Petrologist/ Geochemist
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Chenguang Sun

Petrologist/ Geochemist
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Emily Falksen

Experimental Petrologist/ Geochemist
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Laura Carter

Communications & Project Administrator MIT School of Science

Megan Duncan

Assistant Professor
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA

Hehe Jiang

Post-Doctoral researcher
University of Toronto

James Eguchi

NASA Post-Doctoral Fellow in Astrobiology
University of California, Riverside

Sanath Aithala

Experimental Petrologist/ Geochemist
Former intern

Alexandra Farnell

Experimental Petrologist/ Geochemist
Former intern

Naod Araya

Experimental Petrologist/ Geochemist
Former undergraduate researcher

Mejs Hasan

Website, Education & Outreach Coordinator
Rice University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Houston, TX

Funding Sources

Team Member Institutions