Planetary Climate and Habitability Research

Danica is primarily interested in how atmospheric chemistry and climate co-evolve at Mars, other solar system worlds, and exoplanets, and she likes to think about how that evolution influenced habitability over time. She is also interested in applying photochemistry and aerosol models to explain present-day measurements at many worlds (ranging from Mars to hot Jupiters). She discovered her passion for planetary evolution while working with the MAVEN mission during her undergraduate.

Collin began his research career in biochemistry and pivoted to planetary science and education after taking inspiration from science communicators like Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson. He was a chemistry and physics teacher in Boston and Morocco before joining the Wordsworth group. As a first year student, his primary research interests are in exoplanet atmospheric modeling/observation and astrobiology. Check out his blog: etaearth.org.

After receiving my bachelor’s in astrophysics from the University of Georgia, I decided to pursue planetary science because of its fundamentally interdisciplinary nature. I am at present interested in the formation and climate evolution of Venus and aim to integrate science communication and outreach into my career as a scientist.

Pete explores the physics and chemistry behind why life can (or cannot) survive, grow and evolve in various environments. His research interests include assessing the potential for life detection on icy moons, demystifying the survival strategies of life at the edge of habitability in Earth’s deep subsurface, and identifying processes that can sustain habitable conditions over evolutionary and geologic timescales.

Charlotte is a first-year graduate student modeling Earth’s carbon cycle evolution. Having meandered from a passion for exoplanets into researching Earth’s climate history, she’s interested in what sets climate states and how planets we know of can help us think about planets we don’t. Before joining the Wordsworth group, she also studied the history of science, and hopes to incorporate an awareness of the historical and social context of planetary science into her career as a researcher.

Andrea is interested in a broad range of climate questions on both Earth and other planets. Some of her work investigates how cloud feedbacks affected Earth’s climate during hothouse periods like the Eocene, about 50 million years ago. Additionally, she studies the co-evolution of a planet’s climate and rotation rate, combining orbital and climate dynamics to study the evolution of Venus and other rocky planets. To address these questions, Andrea uses a hierarchical modeling approach, from simple analytic models to 3D Global Climate Models (GCMs). She is most excited by multidisciplinary questions that require integrating multiple numerical methods.

Jake studies planetary climates using a hierarchy of models, ranging from pencil-and-paper theories to simulations that run on supercomputers. He is currently working on a theory for the tropopause in planetary atmospheres. Previously, Jake worked on a variety of radiative-convective phenomena, including the physics of carbon dioxide radiative forcing, anvil cloud formation, and the effect of global warming on lightning and severe thunderstorms.

Robin is from the Scottish Highlands near Loch Ness, home of the famous monster. Since leaving Scotland he has studied and worked in England, France and the USA. Today, his research interests include the climate evolution and habitability of Mars, Earth and Venus and the potential climates and biosignatures of exoplanets.