Current Research Projects

PI: NASA, Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets (ASTEP Program). “Environmentally Non-Disturbing Under-ice Robotic ANtarctiC Explorer (ENDURANCE)”, 2007-2010. -- The project will: further biological research in the terrestrial environments analogous to those found on other planets; develop technologies that enable remote searches for, and identification of, life in extreme environments; perform a systems-level field campaign designed to demonstrate and validate the science and technology in extreme environments on Earth.

PI: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets (ASTEP Program). “Subsurface Ice and Brine Sampling: Life Detection and Characterization in the McMurdo Dry Valleys Using an Ultrasonic Gopher”. 2003-2008.

Co-PI: National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs, Biology and Medicine, “The role of resource legacy on contemporary linkages between biodiversity and ecosystem processes in a cold desert ecosystem: The McMurdo Dry Valley LTER Program”, 2005-2011.

Past Research Projects

PI: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Education and Public Outreach. “Searching for Life in an Antarctic Lake without Leaving Chicago”, 2005

PI: National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs, Geology and Geophysics, “Paleoclimate inferred from lake sediment cores in Taylor Valley, Antarctica”, 2002-2005

Co-PI: National Science Foundation, Earth Sciences, Instrumentation and Facilities, “Acquisition of an isotope ratio mass spectrometer for continuous flow analyses of carbon, hydrogen, and chlorine isotopic compositions of organic compounds.” 2003-2004

Co-PI: National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs, Biology and Medicine, “Study of the Consequences of a January 2003 hydrocarbon spill on the ice cover of Lake Fryxell, McMurdo Dry Valleys.” 2003-2005

Co-PI: National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs, Biology and Medicine, “Biogeochemistry of Victoria Land Coastal Ponds: role in Terrestrial Ecosystem Organic Carbon and Structure”, 2003-2006

Co-PI: National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs, Biology and Medicine, “The role of natural legacy on ecosystem structure and functioning in a polar desert: The McMurdo Dry Valley LTER Program”, 1999-2005.

PI: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Exobiology Program, on "Antarctic Dry Valley Lakes: Analogs of ancient Martian lacustrine systems", 2000-2004

PI: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Jet Propulsion Lab, “Assessing chronometric techniques for quantifying surficial processes on Mars”, 2000.

PI: National Science Foundation, PI on “Impact of research activities on McMurdo Dry Valley Lakes: An invitational workshop”, 1998-2000.

Co-PI: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Co-PI on "Martian Paleolake Sediments and Terrestrial Analogs: Extant and Extinct Ice-Covered Lakes"), 1996-1999

Co-PI: National Science Foundation, "Martian Paleolake Sediments and Terrestrial Analogs: Extant and Extinct Ice-Covered Lakes", 1997-1999.

Funded Collaborator: National Science Foundation, OPP “McMurdo Dry Valleys: A cold desert ecosystem”, 1992-1999.

Internal Research Projects

University of Illinois at Chicago, Campus Research Board “Comparative Study of Martian and Terrestrial Patterned Ground”, 2002