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Welcome!
I am an associate professor at the University of Cincinnati in the Department of Geology specializing in Precambrian Paleobiology, Astrobiology, and Biogeochemistry. I focus on the origin and evolution of the earliest life on Earth, namely bacteria, cyanobacteria, archaea, and their distant relatives (see my Research page). I also focus on searching for life elsewhere in the Solar System and am a science team member of NASA's upcoming Mars 2020 mission. **Ph.D. student needed for NASA-funded project!**
I am searching for a Ph.D. student to join my lab at the University of Cincinnati in August 2021 on a fully-funded NASA Exobiology project titled “Oxidizing Oases in the Paleoarchean Moodies Group, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa”. The student would join an international team to study the environmental distributions of early oxidizing photosynthetic communities and associated weathering processes through a cross-disciplinary approach. The planned Ph.D. project will be based largely on multiple stable isotope geochemistry (C, O, and Fe) and Raman spectroscopy of organic materials associated with detrital minerals. Experience with geochemistry (particularly isotope geochemistry) is preferred, but not required. Please click the link above and contact me at Andrew.czaja@uc.edu for more information. **MARS 2020 MISSION UPDATES**
NASA is sending the Perseverance rover to Mars to explore Jezero crater and search for evidence of ancient life. The rover launched successfully (beautifully!) from Cape Canaveral on July 30 at 7:50 am EDT (click here to re-watch) and will arrive at the Red Planet on February 18, 2021. Perseverance is doing great and is en route and on schedule! Click here to see a visualization of the current location of Perseverance. Follow along here for updates or at NASA's Mars 2020 mission website. Twitter: @NASAPersevere Facebook: @NASAPersevere See links to interviews I have done about my involvement in the mission in Czaja Lab In The News (on the right). |
**Czaja Lab In The News**
UC and several local media outlets have featured my involvement on NASA's Mars 2020 mission and the upcoming launch on July 30, 2020. UC News WVXU Radio (web story and audio clip) WCPO Cincy Lifestyle (video) WCPO News WLWT (video) UC and Outside Magazine featured Andrew Gangidine and his work developing a trace element biosignature that could be applied to the search for life on Mars. We were also interviewed by WCPO ABC 9 for their Cincy Lifestyle program. UC Magazine Outside Magazine Cincy Lifestyle (video) UC featured my work with the Mars 2020 mission as a member of the Returned Sample Science Board and Landing Site Working Group. Subsequently Andrew Gangidine and I were interviewed on Cincinnati Edition on 91.7 FM WVXU. UC Magazine Cincinnati Edition (audio) Press for my paper in Geology on 2.52-billion-year-old deep water sulfur-oxidizing bacteria from South Africa: UC Magazine Live Science Phys.org Biotechniques Daily Mail online (UK) TimesLive (South Africa) |
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Please visit the other tabs to learn more about my research, the folks I work with, and where we have been. |
Note, this site is perpetually under construction so please check back periodically and/or contact me for more information
last updated: 29 December 2020
last updated: 29 December 2020
