Who am I?

I'm an astrobiologist and 51 Pegasi b Postdoctoral Fellow in the Hörst lab at Johns Hopkins University. Next year, I will join the faculty in the Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Department at Purdue University. My future lab, the Laboratory for Origins and Astrobiology Research (LOAR) will experimentally explore the origin of life on Earth and the search for life on other worlds.

I am no longer looking for PhD students for Fall 2024. Stay tuned (~Aug 2024) for information on potential openings for Fall 2025.

More about me: I did my PhD in astrophysics and astrobiology at the Origins Institute at McMaster University in Canada, under the supervision of Ralph Pudritz. My expertise is in mass spectrometry, gas chromatography, vacuum flow system experimentation, numerical modeling, quantum chemistry, chemical kinetics, thermodynamics, and wet-dry cycling experimentation. My research is centered around the RNA world hypothesis, which suggests first life on Earth was made up of RNA rather than the more complex DNA/RNA/protein-based life we see today.

Education & Academic Positions

• Assistant Professor
  Purdue University, 2024 –

• 51 Pegasi b Postdoctoral Fellow
  Johns Hopkins University, 2023 – 2024

• Banting Postdoctoral Fellow
  Johns Hopkins University, 2021 – 2023

• PhD in Physics and Astronomy - Astrobiology
  McMaster University, 2021

• MSc in Physics and Astronomy - Astrobiology
  McMaster University, 2017

• BSc in Astronomy
  University of British Columbia, 2015

• BSc in Software Engineering
  University of Calgary, 2010

Research Overview

One of the deepest questions intelligent beings can ponder is, where did we come from? Evolution by natural selection explains how simple cellular life progressed into the diverse set of species we observe on Earth today, but it is still unclear how non-living, organic molecules converted into to something that can reproduce and evolve. Evidence is growing for the idea that if the right ingredients are settled in the right environment, life will arise naturally. My research focuses on the early stages of this hypothesis, beginning on the surface of our early habitable planet with only the basic starting materials delivered by asteroids and comets, or those readily available from atmospheric and terrestrial processes. For details, see the features section below, or the tab labelled publications. Everything I publish is available to read for free on arxiv.