People





Kenneth Williford

Primary Investigator: 2012/2018

Ken Williford is an astrobiologist and directs the abcLab. He is also the Deputy Project Scientist for the Mars 2020 mission.

Michael Tuite

Laboratory manager: 2013/2018

Michael is an isotope biogeochemist who's research focuses on the interaction of the Earth and its living inhabitants from the earliest evidence for life to the present. He is particularly interested in nitrogen biogeochemistry in Paleozoic epeiric seas.

Daniel Petrizzo

Postdoctoral Fellow: 2014/2016

Dan Petrizzo was a post-doc in the abcLab from 2014 to 2016. His research in the abcLab focused on analysis of hydrogen isotopes of water trapped in clays. Dan is now a Systems Engineer on the Mars 2020 mission.

Fernanda Mora

Founding Lab Manager: 2013/2015

Fernanda is an analytical chemist and renowned chef who served as the abcLab's first manager.

Adam Hoffman

Undergrad/Grad Intern: 2013/2018

Adam is a longtime abcLab intern and a gred student at UC Riverside

Katrine Hansen

Grad Intern: 2014/2016

Katrine is a graduate student at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

David Flannery

Postdoc/Collaborator: 2015/2015

David Flannery was an abcLab post-doc in 2014/2015. He fancies himself a stromatolite specialist and all-around field geologist. He currently works closely with the abcLab in his capacity as a research scientist working with the Mars 2020 PIXL instrument.

Emily Meany

Undergrad Intern: 2014/

Emily was a Caltech undergraduate summer intern

Lorenia Jimenez

Undergrad Intern: 2014/2016

Lorenia was an undergraduate intern from UC Irvine and all-around computing wunderkid.

Ellie Hara

Undergrad Intern: 2015/

Ellie Hara was an undergraduate intern from USC.

Emily Ross

Undergrad Intern: 2015/

Emily was an undergraduate summer intern from Carleton College and a world-class jumber of rope.

Amanda Allen

Undergrad Intern: 2015/2018

Amanda is an undergraduate at UC San Diego and a multi-term intern.

Kira Lorber

Grad Intern: 2015/

Kiri was a graducate student at the University of Cincinnati

Jeffrey Osterhout

Grad Intern: 2015/2018

Jeff is a gradute student at UCLA

Kari Finstad

Grad Intern: 2015/2016

Kiri was a visiting graduate student from UC Berkeley

Kimberly Lykens

Undergrad Intern: 2016/

Kim was a STAR teaching fellow from Wittenberg University

Brandi Coats

Undergrad Intern: 2016/

Brandi was an undergraduate summer intern from UC Riverside

Erica Gaspari

Undergrad Intern: 2016/

Erica was our first international undergraduate intern, joining us from her home in Brazil. Nice.

Ashley Manning-Berg

Grad Intern: 2016/2018

Ashley was a visitng gradute student from the University of Tennesse.

Scott Perl

Grad Intern: 2015/

Scott is a graduate student from USC and a JPL scientist.

Meika Nwamoah

Undergrad Intern: 2016/

Meika is a high school teacher who came to the abcLab as a STAR fellow.

Patrick Cho

Undergrad Intern: 2017/

Patrick was an undergraduate summer intern from USC.

Emily Skoog

Undergrad Intern: 2017/

Emilie was an undergraduate summer intern from USC.

Brady Ross

Grad Intern: 2017/

Brady was a graduate summer intern from CSULA.

Alden Rogers

Undergrad Intern: 2017/

Alden was a summer undergraduate intern from Caltech.

Maria Figueroa

Grad Intern: 2018/

Maria is a visiting greduate student from UC Riverside.

Peter Wynn

Undergrad Intern: 2018/

Peter is a visiting undergradate researcher from USC.

Joyce Yager

Grad Intern: 2018/

Joyce is a visiting greduate researcher from USC.

Kelsey Moore

SURP Graduate: 2018/

Kelsey is a visiting graduate student from MIT.

Alex Pontefract

Visiting Postdoc: 2018/

Alex is a geomicrobiologist with a research focus on tha habitabliity of impact zones.

Julene Aramendia

Visiting Postdoc: 2018/

Julene is a chemist with a specialty in raman spectroscopy. She has worked on the calibration targets for MastCamZ. Her collaboration with the abcLan entails the detection and analysis of kerogen in ancient rocks.

Ryan Kellis

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