Astrobiology Analytical
Laboratory
Dr. Jamie Elsila (Cook)
Dr. Jamie Elsila
on a field expedition in Kamchatka, Siberia
Jamie Elsila
investigates the isotopic
signature of astrochemically interesting materials such as meteorites and
comets, using isotope ratio mass spectrometry. (GC-C/IRMS).
She was first introduced to
astrobiology as an undergraduate at Kalamazoo
College, when she did a three-month Senior Individualized Project in the Astrochemistry Lab at NASA Ames Research Center. After graduating from Kalamazoo,
she became a Peace Corps Volunteer,
teaching chemistry and math at a secondary school in the small town of Masasi
in southeastern Tanzania.
This was a great chance to learn how to run a chemistry lab with no equipment
and to see the opportunities to teach science with real-world applications.
Upon returning to the U.S.,
she did her graduate studies in the Chemistry Department at Stanford University with adviser Richard Zare. Her graduate
work involved studying the distribution, abundance, and reactions of polycylic
aromatic hydrocarbons and fullerenes in a variety of terrestrial and
extraterrestrial samples, primarily utilizing two-step laser mass spectrometry.
She received her Ph.D. in September, 2004. Dr. Elsila returned to the Ames
Astrochemistry Lab as a NASA Astrobiology
Institute postdoctoral associate in November 2004, eight and a half years
after her first experience there. After
completing her postdoc and a brief stint as a Principal Investigator at the SETI Institute, she joined the Astrobiology
Analytical Lab at Goddard in May, 2007.
Click here
for an abridged CV and publications as a PDF file.
