Astrobiology – Life on Earth (and elsewhere?)

David DesMarais, Senior Research Scientist, Space Sciences, NASA Ames Research Center

Dr. David J. Des Marais is a senior space scientist with NASA’s Astrobiology Program at NASA Ames Research Center. He has studied both living communities of microorganisms and their ancient fossil records. He has investigated the chemistry of carbon in meteorites, lunar samples, and volcanic rocks and ancient sediments on Earth. David is currently a member of the science operations team for NASA’s Curiosity Rover Mars mission. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed technical articles and chapters on his research and Mars missions. He has been a co-leader of the Lassen Astrobiology Student Intern Program since 2008. David has been elected Fellow of six professional societies. The Geochemical Society awarded him the Alfred Treibs Medal for his career achievements in Organic Geochemistry.   He is also a co-author of the 2008 Astrobiology Roadmap and one of the lead authors of the 2015 Astrobiology Strategy, world-leading documents for the field of astrobiology.