Seminars & Events

David Grinspoon, Senior Scientist for Astrobiology Strategy, NASA

Dr. David Grinspoon is an astrobiologist, award-winning science communicator, and prize-winning author. His research focuses on climate evolution on Earth-like planets and potential conditions for life elsewhere in the universe. Dr. Grinspoon has participated in numerous NASA-related strategic planning and advisory roles. He served for many years on the Solar System Exploration Subcommittee of the Solar System Advisory Committee for the Space Telescope Science Institute, on mission Science Definition Teams, and multiple Decadal Surveys. He is currently serving on the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Independent Study Team.

Aomawa Shields, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy, UC Irvine

Dr. Aomawa Shields is an astronomer, an astrobiologist, the Clare Boothe Luce Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine, and a classically-trained actor. At UC Irvine Dr. Shields leads a team of researchers and educators at the Shields Center for Exoplanet Climate and Interdisciplinary Education. Her research focuses on exploring the possible climates and potential habitability of planets orbiting stars other than the Sun, called “extrasolar planets.” She employs a hierarchy of computer models to carry out her research, including those traditionally used to predict climate and weather patterns on the Earth. In her new memoir, “Life on Other Planets: A Memoir of Finding My Place in the Universe,” she shares her personal and professional path as an astronomer, classically trained actor, mother, and Black woman in STEM, searching for life in the universe while building a meaningful life here on Earth.

Alvin Harvey, Post-doc Researcher, Space Enabled Lab at the MIT Media Lab

Dr. Alvin Harvey earned his Aerospace Engineering PhD at MIT where he is now a post-doctoral researcher in the Space Enabled Lab at the MIT Media Lab. Dr. Harvey is a member of the Navajo Nation and an advocate for centering Indigenous pedagogies, knowledge, engineering, and science in discussion of Western/Eurocentric science and engineering.

Daniel Apai, Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona

Dr. Daniel Apai’s research focuses on exoplanets, with a particular emphasis on habitable planets and planetary systems. He leads the Nautilus Space Observatory concept, a project that explores a radical novel space telescope architecture with the goal of characterizing a thousand potentially earth-like exoplanets.

Vanessa Bailey, Instrument Technologist, Jet Propulsion Lab, NASA

Dr. Vanessa Bailey works primarily on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Coronagraph Instrument, a high-contrast instrument that will be capable of directly imaging exoplanets and circumstellar disks in the visible at unprecedented contrast levels. She also worked as a member of the ASTERIA science team; ASTERIA was the first CubeSat to detect a transiting exoplanet.

Paula do Vale Pereira, Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Central Florida

Dr. Paula do Vale Pereira’s research is focused on technology development for small satellites and probes for the exploration of Ocean Worlds, such as Europa and Enceladus. She has worked on the development, integration, testing and operations of three spacecraft and the development, testing and modeling of melt probes for subsurface descent in the cryogenic vacuum ice found in icy moons in the outer solar system.

Laurie Barge, Research Scientist, Jet Propulsion Lab, NASA

Dr. Laurie Barge co-leads the JPL Origins and Habitability Lab, an astrobiology research team which studies how life emerges and can be detected on planets. She is interested in all worlds where water/rock interactions might have occurred including early Earth, Mars, and Ocean Worlds (e.g. Europa, Enceladus, Ceres).

Renyu Hu, Research Scientist, Jet Propulsion Lab, NASA

Dr. Renyu Hu is an expert in the physical and chemical processes, evolution, radiative transfer, and remote sensing of planetary and exoplanetary atmospheres. He developed, from the first principles, a general-purpose photochemical and thermochemical model for exploring the diversity of exoplanets, which has led to the first classification framework of mini-Neptunes, a search strategy for helium-atmosphere exoplanets, and the prediction of an O2-CO runaway state on M stars’ rocky planets. He also pioneered the method to detect minerals on bare-rock exoplanet surfaces.

Malena Rice, Assistant Professor of Astronomy, Yale

Dr. Malena Rice conducts research to synthesize physical constraints from stars, planets, and minor planets, drawing connections between subfields to characterize the processes of planet formation and evolution. She also founded and co-lead the Stellar Obliquities in Long-period Exoplanet Systems (SOLES) survey.

Rosanne Di Stefano, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Senior Astrophysicist and Lecturer in Astronomy

Dr. Rosanne Di Stefano researches the application of machine learning to the search for subtle but scientifically important X-ray signals and optical signatures produced by planets and microlensing events. Her research will help prepare for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, (or LSST).

Romy Rodríguez Martínez, Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian

Dr. Romy Rodríguez Martínez uses ground- and space-based observations to detect and characterize exoplanets. She is particularly interested in the composition and demographics of low-mass, potentially habitable exoplanets, and in the links between the properties of planets and their host stars.

Chris Impey, Distinguished Professor of Astronomy and Associate Dean of the College of Science, University of Arizona

Dr. Chris Impey was Deputy Head of the Astronomy Department at the University of Arizona for 17 years before moving to his current role as Associate Dean of the College of Science. Dr. Impey is a prolific science communicator, and author of 9 books on space, astronomy, and astrobiology. His latest book is: “Worlds without End: Exoplanets, Habitability, and the Future of Humanity.”

Dante Lauretta, Director, Arizona Astrobiology Center, University of Arizona

Dr. Dante Lauretta is an expert in near-Earth asteroid formation and evolution. He is the leader of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return mission. OSIRIS-REx is the United States’ premier mission to visit one of the most Potentially Hazardous near-Earth Asteroids, survey it to assess its impact hazard and resource potential, understand its physical and chemical properties, and return a sample of this body to Earth for detailed scientific analysis.

Dani Mendoza DellaGiustina, Assistant Professor, Lunar and Planetary Lab, University of Arizona

Dr. Dani Mendoza DellaGiustina investigates the surface and near-surface structure of small airless worlds across the solar system. She does this by developing and using remote-sensing and geophysical instruments deployed by spacecraft. Dr. Mendoza DellaGiustina field tests and validates instrumentation techniques at analog sites in extreme environments across our own planet. She is especially interested in water distribution throughout the solar system and how we establish its presence using remote-sensing and in-situ techniques.

Anjani Polit, Deputy Principal Investigator, OSIRIS-APEX Mission and Mission Implementation Systems Engineer, OSIRIS-REx Mission, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona

Anjani Polit is the Mission Implementation Systems Engineer for the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission and the Mission Implementation and Control Officer for the OSIRIS-APEX mission to explore asteroid Apophis. During OSIRIS-REx proximity operations around asteroid Bennu, she led the OSIRIS-REx Science Planning Team and was the Vice-Chair of the Sample Site Selection Board. For OSIRIS-APEX, she manages spacecraft observation planning and oversees daily operations at the mission’s Science Processing and Operations Center. Before OSIRIS-REx, Polit was the Uplink Operations Lead for the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Jackie Goordial, Assistant Professor of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph

Jackie Goordial is an environmental microbiologist. She focuses on environments at the extreme and those that are undergoing rapid change. She is currently studying microbial life at the cold-arid limits in dry permafrost in Elephants Head, Antarctica.

Alfonso Davila, Research Scientist, NASA Ames

Dr. Alfonso Davalia conducts field investigations in the most extreme deserts on Earth. He also provides scientific advice for the maturation of instruments for space exploration and helps develop mission concepts to search for evidence of life on Mars, Europa and Enceladus.

Ramin Skibba, Science Journalist 

Ramin Skibba is a former astrophysicist turned science writer and freelance journalist. Skibba is on the board of the National Association of Science Writers (NASW) and previously served as president of the San Diego Science Writers Association.

Nadia Drake, Science Journalist

Dr. Nadia Drake is a freelance science journalist and former contributing writer at National Geographic. She specializes in covering astronomy, astrophysics and planetary science, as well as anything involving jungles and spiders.

David W. Brown, Nonfiction Author

David W. Brown’s latest book tells the true story of a group of scientists who studied Europa, Jupiter’s ocean moon, needed to know more, and spent twenty years convincing NASA to send a spaceship there. It is titled: “THE MISSION, or: How a Disciple of Carl Sagan, an Ex-Motocross Racer, a Texas Tea Party Congressman, the World’s Worst Typewriter Saleswoman, California Mountain People, and an Anonymous NASA Functionary Went to War with Mars, Survived an Insurgency at Saturn, Traded Blows with Washington, and Stole a Ride on an Alabama Moon Rocket to Send a Space Robot to Jupiter in Search of the Second Garden of Eden at the Bottom of an Alien Ocean Inside of an Ice World Called Europa (A True Story).”