PhD Candidate at Georgia Tech

email marybeth.wilhelm@nasa.gov
website  marybethwilhelm.com

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My Research

My research involved studying the preservation of lipid biomarkers in driest part of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, which has been extraordinarily dry for over 2 million years. I also am a student collaborator on the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument part of the Curiosity Rover team. Understanding how lipids are distributed and preserved under prolonged and extreme dryness in the Atacama will have implications for the search for ancient biomarkers on Mars.

I received my bachelors in Geology from Cornell University, and am now a PhD Candidate in Planetary Science at the Georgia Institute of Technology. I am also a Civil Servant at NASA Ames Research Center as a member of the Pathways Student Program.