{"685918":{"#nid":"685918","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Four Scholars Named 2025\u201326 Georgia Tech Astrobiology Fellows","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAt Georgia Tech, four researchers are investigating the origin of life and where else it might exist from four very different perspectives. This fall, the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/astrobiology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Eastrobiology fellowship program\u003C\/a\u003E named the 2025\u201326 astrobiology fellows to pursue this age-old debate: Lea Adepoju from the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E, Juliana DiGiacomo from the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Chemistry and Biochemistry\u003C\/a\u003E, and Ziyu Huang and Lauren Paulson from the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/schools\/aerospace-engineering\u0022\u003EDaniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis year\u2019s cohort reflects the interdisciplinary spirit at the heart of astrobiology. From atmospheric science to aerospace engineering to chemistry, each fellow brings a distinct perspective to two of astrobiology\u2019s biggest questions: where life originated from and what it might look like beyond Earth.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhat drew me to apply is the opportunity to give back to the astrobiology community at Georgia Tech, while also promoting awareness of astrobiology in other fields and providing access to the latest findings,\u201d said Adepoju.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESupported by the Georgia Tech College of Sciences \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/12-proposals-achieve-college-sciences-strategic-goals-funded-sutherland-deans-chair\u0022\u003EBetsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Dean\u2019s Chair\u003C\/a\u003E, the astrobiology fellowship program recognizes graduate students and postdocs who demonstrate leadership, community-building, and a passion for astrobiology. Each fellow receives a $4,000 award and takes on the responsibility of organizing events and outreach that strengthen the astrobiology community at Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Ph.D. candidate Juliana DiGiacomo, the search begins with the Earth\u2019s chemical origins. Working in Professor Loren Williams\u2019 lab, she studies long-term chemical evolution: a process that may have catalyzed the earliest molecules of life into existence on prebiotic Earth, a period billions of years before life as we know it emerged.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDiGiacomo recreates the conditions of prebiotic Earth by cycling simple molecules through wet and dry phases, a daily rhythm that could have been common then. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen how a simple \u2018primordial soup\u2019 can result in kinetic trapping of high-energy bonds relevant to life,\u201d she said, describing her experiments.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELea Adepoju, an earth and atmospheric sciences Ph.D. candidate, looks for traces of life in an entirely different direction: deep beneath the sea. She studies microbial communities in benthic basins, asking how they alter methane signatures. \u201cThe aim of this study is to elucidate the key signatures that would improve our understanding of methane-based biosignatures that might be found on ocean worlds,\u201d she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIf we can read these signals of life here, she suggests, perhaps we could have a better understanding of signals in other worlds where oceans hide beneath the surface. \u201cI would like them to wonder where else life could have existed somewhere else in our solar system or beyond,\u201d said Adepoju. \u201cCould it really be possible that Earth was the only planet that \u2018got lucky\u2019?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor aerospace engineering postdoctoral fellow Ziyu Huang, the question is what happens next. Once signals of life appear, can they sustain themselves long enough for life to evolve?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith a background in computational chemistry and space environment modeling, Huang studies how plasma, solar wind, and micrometeoroids affect the shape and chemistry of moons and exoplanets. These processes matter because they determine whether worlds can hold onto or lose important volatile elements like water and carbon, which are essential for life and habitability.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYou start to wonder what kinds of wild chemistry might be happening out there,\u201d he said, pointing to planets like K2-18 b or the TRAPPIST-1 system. \u201cOceans hidden under thick skies, strange reactions recycling water and organics, or even entirely new pathways to habitability\u0026nbsp; \u2014thinking about these possibilities reminds us that life could thrive in ways and places far beyond what Earth has taught us to expect.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Lauren Paulson, a third-year Ph.D. student, the connection to astrobiology began unexpectedly. Early in her Ph.D., she was assigned to lead a student team designing a non-terrestrial aircraft, a vehicle meant to fly in the atmosphere of another world. \u201cI knew the engineering, but not astrobiology,\u201d Paulson said. \u201cSo, I signed up for the astrobiology seminar and started attending every \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/astrobiology.gatech.edu\/exo\/\u0022\u003EExplOrigins\u003C\/a\u003E meeting I could. Those experiences opened up an entirely new way of thinking about exploration, one that united systems engineering with questions about the origin and persistence of life.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENow just one class away from completing the astrobiology graduate certificate, Paulson focuses on sustainable space technologies and in-situ resource utilization, modeling how local materials, like lunar ice or Martian regolith, can support future missions and reduce reliance on Earth-based resupply. \u201cIt\u2019s the engineering side of astrobiology,\u201d she explained. \u201cDesigning the systems that make life detection \u2014 and eventually habitation \u2014 possible.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBeyond the Lab\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut for the fellows, the year ahead is not just about research, but also about leadership and community. \u201cI\u2019m most excited to help connect communities that don\u2019t always realize how much they have in common, especially engineering students who might not yet see how their work relates to astrobiology,\u201d said Paulson. \u201cI\u2019d love to organize events that make the field feel more accessible and interdisciplinary, and to highlight how systems thinking, mission design, and sustainability are deeply intertwined with the search for life beyond Earth.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOver the coming year, Adepoju, Huang, DiGiacomo, and Paulson will co-organize the fall social event with an invited speaker and the spring ExplOrigins Colloquium. They will also design their own service project \u2014 whether it\u2019s leading discussions, mentoring undergraduates, or outreach to high school teachers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBeyond science, they also hope to spark curiosity by bringing more people into the astrobiology conversation. \u201cLife on Earth emerged almost immediately after the planet cooled just enough to support it,\u201d DiGiacomo said. \u201cThat fact alone suggests that life, given the right conditions, may not be rare at all; it might even be inevitable. I\u2019d hope to inspire someone to wonder: If life could take hold so rapidly here, how many other worlds might be home to life as well?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EFor more information about the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fastrobiology.gatech.edu%2F\u0026amp;data=05%7C02%7Cychernet3%40gatech.edu%7C304c456256dc4a78e4e908de1b9e62cb%7C482198bbae7b4b258b7a6d7f32faa083%7C1%7C0%7C638978564242036223%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C\u0026amp;sdata=UoM1XBvK7cq0h3EhHGHwLbyGKufJm2KOgKg2SnxtVZY%3D\u0026amp;reserved=0\u0022 title=\u0022Original URL:\u0026#13;https:\/\/astrobiology.gatech.edu\/\u0026#13;\u0026#13;Click to follow link.\u0022\u003EAstrobiology program\u003C\/a\u003E, visit the program\u2019s site or reach out through their \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fastrobiology.gatech.edu%2Fcontact%2F\u0026amp;data=05%7C02%7Cychernet3%40gatech.edu%7C304c456256dc4a78e4e908de1b9e62cb%7C482198bbae7b4b258b7a6d7f32faa083%7C1%7C0%7C638978564242054150%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C\u0026amp;sdata=t6M1qy9jA7jq7DbDCOgIo7ulg9f6fpwUZfkUnXvq6P8%3D\u0026amp;reserved=0\u0022 title=\u0022https:\/\/nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fastrobiology.gatech.edu%2Fcontact%2F\u0026amp;data=05%7C02%7Cychernet3%40gatech.edu%7C304c456256dc4a78e4e908de1b9e62cb%7C482198bbae7b4b258b7a6d7f32faa083%7C1%7C0%7C638978564242054150%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C\u0026amp;sdata=t6M1qy9jA7jq7DbDCOgIo7ulg9f6fpwUZfkUnXvq6P8%3D\u0026amp;reserved=0\u0022\u003Econtact\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;page.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFour Georgia Tech researchers have been selected as 2025\u201326 Astrobiology Fellows. Lea Adepoju, Juliana DiGiacomo, Ziyu Huang, and Lauren Paulson will explore questions about the origins of life and the search for it beyond Earth.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Four Georgia Tech researchers have been selected as 2025\u201326 Astrobiology Fellows. Lea Adepoju, Juliana DiGiacomo, Ziyu Huang, and Lauren Paulson will explore questions about the origins of life and the search for it beyond Earth."}],"uid":"36757","created_gmt":"2025-10-22 16:16:51","changed_gmt":"2025-11-04 15:27:17","author":"ychernet3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-10-22T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-10-22T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678502":{"id":"678502","type":"image","title":"AstrobiologyFellows.png","body":null,"created":"1761834558","gmt_created":"2025-10-30 14:29:18","changed":"1761834558","gmt_changed":"2025-10-30 14:29:18","alt":"Astrobiology Fellows","file":{"fid":"262548","name":"image001.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/10\/30\/image001.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/10\/30\/image001.png","mime":"image\/png","size":304069,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/10\/30\/image001.png?itok=l9H-jYI9"}}},"media_ids":["678502"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"660370","name":"Space"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193657","name":"Space Research Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003Espace@research.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}