Karyn Rogers is an Associate Professor in Earth and Environmental Sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she also directs the Rensselaer Astrobiology Research and Education (RARE) Center. She earned an AB from Harvard University with a double concentration in both Earth & Planetary Sciences and Environmental Science & Public Policy. She received an MS from Stanford University, and an AM and a PhD from Washington University in St. Louis in Earth & Planetary Sciences. Prior to her arrival at RPI in 2013, Karyn previously held positions at the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institute for Science in Washington DC, as well as the University of Missouri and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Karyn’s research interests focus largely on habitability in extreme environments. Exploring everything from microbial diversity and activity, to metabolic reaction energetics, and the synthesis of prebiotic molecules in early Earth environments, Karyn’s research has included field expeditions around the world, as well as the construction of a state-of-the-art high pressure experimental laboratory. Recently Karyn’s research group at RPI, the Habitability and Extreme Life Laboratory, has been focused on the impacts of elevated pressure on microbial growth and physiology, as well as the synthesis of prebiotic polymers in high temperature, high pressure, and geochemically variable conditions.

Jacob (Jake) Shelley earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Northern Arizona University and his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry at Indiana University. His research interests lie in the development of new hardware and software tools for chemical analysis, which enable rapid, sensitive detection and identification of analytes in complex matrices. In addition, his research group uses high-energy plasma-generated species to perform unique gas-phase synthesis. These research areas converge in studying chemical origins-of-life through the Rensselaer Astrobiology Research and Education (RARE) Center.

Morgan Schaller is an Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He holds a BS in both Geology and Biology from Binghamton University, and an MS in Hydrogeology and a PhD in Geochemistry from Rutgers University. Morgan’s interests are broadly in the history of the Earth system and changes in climate over long timescales. Morgan uses light stable isotopes and fluid inclusions to trace the interaction and transfer of elements through the atmosphere, biosphere, and solid earth, specifically linking geologic processes to the history of Earth’s major atmospheric gases. Morgan is credited with demonstrating the atmospheric CO2 effect of a Large Igneous Province eruption (the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province), and discovering the extraterrestrial impact ejecta associated with the climatic event at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. Morgan’s most recent work has been a new analytical method for determining the concentration of oxygen in the ancient atmosphere using fluid inclusions in soil carbonates. In 2018, Morgan was awarded the Houtermans Medal from the European Association of Geochemistry.

Kristin Johnson-Finn is an Assistant Professor in Chemistry and Chemical Biology (with a courtesy appointment in Earth and Environmental Sciences) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She earned her BS in Chemistry, with minors in Geology and Mathematics, from Youngstown State University. Kristin received her PhD in Chemistry/Organic Geochemistry from Arizona State University, where she probed the kinetics and mechanisms of organic compounds at hydrothermal conditions. Her current research interests focus on exploring the reaction pathways possible for organic compounds in geologic settings through a combination of experimental studies and thermodynamic modeling.