Dr. Kacar, a postdoctoral fellow in Eric Gaucher's Lab is selected as a NASA Postdoctoral Program Astrobiology Fellow with her project titled "The Role of Chance and Necessity in Evolution: An Experimental Model to Discover Life's Solutions".

Dr. Kacar will continue her research that combines paleogenetics (reconstructing ancestral states of genes based on phylogenetics) with experimental evolution (monitoring evolution in action) in bacteria. The NASA Astrobiology Program, element of the NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP), provides opportunities for Ph.D. scientists and engineers of unusual promise and ability to perform research on problems largely of their own choosing, yet compatible with the research interests of the NASA Astrobiology Program. For more info: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/funding/nai-postdoctoral-fellowship-program/