People: Astrobiology Graduate Students

Sanjoy Som
Earth & Space Sciences
I am a senior graduate student in Earth and Space Sciences. My
research interests lie in the Aerospace and Planetary sciences,
although since finishing my masters in aerospace engineering, I have
found a new interest in early planetary environments.
As such, With Prof. Dave Montgomery, I have been studying the
morphology of the fluvial landforms on Mars to get a sense of their
flow duration, which hints at the environment present during
formation. Also, I look at the mineralogy of the surface to back out
the environment in which they formed.
With Prof. Roger Buick, I am looking at 2.7 billion year old lava
deposits and study the vesicles trapped in them to infer atmospheric
pressure, again from which I hope to extrapolate environmental
conditions during formation. Such a study has brought me to the
inlands of Western Australia, the Pilbara.

In Australia discussing
the origin of life with Roger Buick. (Photo by Jelte Harnmeijer)
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