Our Team

Our group is passionate about understanding the origins of Life. Our diverse and interdisciplinary team heralds from theoretical physics to evolutionary biology. We utilize concepts in complex systems science to answer fundamental questions in Astrobiology and Biochemistry.

Ringleader

Sara Walker, PhD
Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration & School of Complex Adaptive Systems
Deputy Director, Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science
External Faculty, Santa Fe Institute
Fellow, Berggruen Institute
Email: [email protected]

Research Staff

L. Felipe Benites

Michael Lachmann

Graduate Students

Gage Siebert

Estelle Janin

Camerian Millsaps

Lab Alumni

Dr. Megan Bromley (Geological Sciences, PhD 2026)
Dr. Veronica Mierzejewski (Geological Sciences, PhD 2026)
Dr. Hikaru Furukawa (Physics, PhD 2025)
Dr. Pilar Vergeli (Postdoctoral FellowCarnegie Science, 2025)
Dr. Hannah Dromiack (Physics, PhD 2024)
Dr. Cole Mathis (Cole Mathis, NASA Postdoctoral Fellow & Group Coordinator 2024) - Assistant Professor in the School of Complex Adaptive Systems ASU
Daniel Czegel (Postdoctoral Researcher 2024) - Major Evolutionary Transitions Research Group ECOLRES
Dr. Yanbo Zhang (Geological Sciences PhD 2023) - postdoc at Tufts University
Dr. Tessa Fisher (Geological Sciences PhD 2023) - now a postdoc at University of Arizona
Dr. John Malloy (Geological Sciences PhD 2023) - now working at OpenEye Scientific
Dr. Hyunju Kim - (research scientist Beyond Center), now at KarmaV
Pritvik Sinhadc (Affiliated Researcher)
Alexa Drew (Graduate Student)
Bradley Karas (Graduate Student)
Adrianna Matthews (Undergraduate Researcher), now PhD Student at University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Searra Foote (Undergraduate Researcher), now PhD Student at University of Arizona
Dr. Douglas Moore (postdoc, Beyond Center)
Dr. Gabriele Valentini (postdoc, School of Earth and Space Exploration), now research scientist in School of Life Sciences ASU
Dr. Enrico Borriello (postdoc, Beyond Center), now research scientist in Global Biosocial Complexity Initiative ASU
Dr. Jake Hanson (Astrophysics PhD 2021)
Dr. Siyu Zhou (Physics PhD, 2020), now researcher on Microsoft's NLP team
Dr. Harrison Smith (Geology PhD, 2018), now postdoc at Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Tokyo Tech
Dr. Alyssa Adams (Physics PhD, 2017), now postdoc at U. Wisconsin-Madison
Dylan Gagler (Geology Masters, 2020), now mastering the universe
Angelica Berner (NASA Space Grant Scholar)
Coral Ruiz (NASA Space Grant Scholar), now teaching in Colorado public schools