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Scientists
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Principal Investigators
Click on any scientist name in blue to link to their web page
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James P. Ferris
,
Director
- Research Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, Rensselaer
e-mail:
ferrij@rpi.edu
Research interests: Mineral catalysis of prebiotic reactions;
prebiotic synthesis of RNA; photochemical processs in the atmospheres of Titan,
Jupiter and the early earth; interstellar synthesis.
Research Team:
Postdocs: Prakash C. Joshi, Michael Aldersley, Wenhua Huang, Shin Miyakawa, Buu Ngoc Tran, and Veronique Vuitton
-
Douglas C. B. Whittet, Associate Director - Rensselaer
- Professor, Dept. of Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy, Rensselaer
e-mail:
whittd@rpi.edu
Research interests:
Astrochemistry; nature and origin of interstellar dust; synthesis of prebiotic molecules in interstellar clouds;
origin of low-mass stars; habitable zones around solar type stars; connections between interstellar dust and primitive
material in the Solar System
Research Team:
Graduate Student: Sachindev Shenoy
- John W. Delano,
Associate Director - State
University of NY at Albany (SUNYA)
- Distinguished Teaching Professor,
Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences,
State
University of NY at Albany (SUNYA)
e-mail:
jdelano@atmos.albany
.edu
Research interests: Petrology and geochemistry of sedimentary rocks; oxidation state
of Earth's upper
mantle and its relation to primitive atmospheric gases; lunar volcanism and impact history.
Research Team:
Undergraduate Students: Susan Frawley and Mark Waldenmaier.
- Michael J. Gaffey
- Professor Emeritus,
Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rensselaer and Professor, Space Studies Department, University of North Dakota
e-mail:
gaffey@space.edu
Research interests: Origin and early evolution of the Solar System; spectroscopic classification
and mineralogical characterization of asteroids; relationship between asteroids and meteorites; pre-planetary
thermal evolution of the asteroid belt.
Research Team:
Graduate Students: Paul Abell and Paul Hardersen.
- Sandra A. Nierzwicki-Bauer
- Professor and Director, Darrin Fresh Water Institute, Rensselaer
e-mail:
nierzs@rpi.edu
Research interests: Molecular biology;
group I self-splicing
introns; origins of deep subsurface microorganisms
Research Team:
Postdoc: Alexey Vepritskiy; Graduate Students: Cathleen Donovan
- Wayne G. Roberge
- Professor, Dept. of Physics,
Applied Physics and Astronomy, Rensselaer
e-mail:
roberw@rpi.edu
Research interests: Shock chemistry of interstellar clouds and the solar nebula.
Research Team:
Postdoc: Glenn Ciolek; Graduate Student: George Hassel; Undergraduate Student: Yelli Martinez
Associated Scientists
-
Marlene Belfort
- N.Y. State Wadsworth Center for Laboratories and Research
-
William J. Hagan
- Associate Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, College of St. Rose
e-mail:
haganw@strose.edu
Research Interests: Photochemical processes in marine environments on the early Earth;
development of laboratory models for prebiotic pathways to
thioacids and phosphate derivatives.
- Charles R. Hauer
- Assistant Professor, Structural and Cell Biology, SUNYA and Director, Biological Mass Spectrometry, N.Y.
State Wadsworth Center
e-mail: hauer@wadsworth.org
Research interests: Application and further development of
mass spectrometry for biomolecule structure characterization. Studies often involve
protein/peptide primary structure determination, with emphasis on the
elucidation of posttranslational modifications. Instrument development is
focused on improving the capability of MALDI-TOF MS for structure elucidation.
Our interest is in the
identification and structure/function relationship of proteins
associated with disease states or specific celluar processess.
- Ake Hjalmarson
- Onsala Space Observatory, S-439 92 ONSALA, Sweden
e-mail: hjalmar@oso.chalmers.se
Research interests: Radio astronomy; search for prebiotic molecules in interstellar space
-
-
William H. Irvine
- Professor, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Univ. of Massachusetts
e-mail: irvine@ferao.physast.umass.edu
Research interests: Radio astronomy; organic molecules in interstellar matter and comets
- John R. Jones
- Staff Scientist, NASA Johnson Space Center
Research interests: Experimental trace element partitioning studies for the purpose of understanding the
geochemical evolution of Mars and the parent bodies of differentiated meteorites. In addition, Dr. Jones has been
an active investigator into the early history of the Earth-Moon system.
- Michael S. Kelley
- National Research Council Associate, NASA Johnson Space Center
and Research Scientist II, Georgia Southern University
e-mail:
michael.kelley1@jsc.nasa.gov
Research interests: Mineralogy and geology of asteroids and other rocky and icy solar
system bodies using ground-based observations and spacecraft data; genetic and dynamical asteroid family
studies; connections between asteroids and meteorites; solar system origin and evolution.
- Paul Spudis
- Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University
Laurel, MD
e-mail:
paul.spudis@jhuapl.edu
- Jack W. Szostak
- Dept. of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA 02114
e-mail:
szostak@molbio.mgh.harvard.edu
- Alexander Tielens
- Scientist, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
e-mail: tielens@astro.rug.nl
Research Interests:
Interstellar chemistry; synthesis of organic molecules in the solar nebula
- Faith Vilas
- NASA Johnson Space Center
e-mail: vilas@snmail.jsc.nasa.gov
Research Interests: Asteroid spectroscopy, Compositions of dark asteroids, Sources of near-earth asteroids
- Barbara Whitney
- Staff Scientist, Space Science Institute
e-mail: bwhitney@colorado.edu
Research Interests:
Investigating cosmic sources of chiral molecules on the early earth
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Center for Studies of Origins of Life,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY 12180
http://www.origins.rpi.edu
Email: Origins of Life