Dr. Emil Ruff (Marine Biological Laboratory)

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Dr. Emil Ruff is a microbial ecologist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA,
USA. His research focuses on microbial metabolisms and interactions that impact the sulfur,
carbon, and oxygen cycle in aquatic ecosystems. He is particularly interested in mutualistic
interactions between microbes that lead to novel community functions, often enabling these
microbes to conquer new habitats. Emil mainly studies ecosystems with reduced complexity,
such as natural or laboratory enrichment cultures, microbial blooms, or extreme habitats. Emil is
a Kavli Fellow (2024), has received an Early Career Grant from the Human Frontiers Science
Program (2023) and a Simons Foundation Early Career Investigator in Marine Microbial
Ecology and Evolution Award (2021), and is a member of the AMI Ocean Sustainability
Advisory Group.

Dr. Natasha Sekhon (Occidental College)

Dr. Natasha Sekhon is a low-temperature geochemist and paleoclimatologist whose research combines concepts from karst and speleothem sciences to investigate the hydroclimate of terrestrial environments varying on seasonal to millennial time scales. She investigates the geochemical proxies (stable isotope and trace element) trends of stalagmites extracted from caves and actively monitors them to assess the sensitivity of climate variables on proxy systems. 

Natasha earned her Bachelor’s (with Honors) degree in Earth System Sciences with a minor in Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine. She earned her M.Sc and PhD in Geological Sciences at University of Texas, Austin’s Jackson School of Geosciences. Dr. Sekhon is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geology at Occidental College (a liberal arts college) in Los Angeles, CA. 

Dr. Amy Williams (University of Florida)

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Dr. Amy Williams is an associate professor in the Geological Sciences department at the University of Florida. She is an astrobiologist and geobiologist, and her research interests include the formation and preservation of physical and molecular biosignatures in terrestrial environments as an analog for putative biosignature formation on Mars. She has been a member of the NASA Curiosity rover science team since 2009, and currently works with the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument team to explore the distribution of organic molecules on Mars’ surface. She is also a scientist on NASA’s Perseverance rover mission, which is collecting samples that can one day be returned to Earth. She has received several NASA group achievement awards and in 2022 received the Provost’s Excellence Award for Assistant Professors. She has served on several NASA advisory committees and working groups that set the priorities for planetary exploration, including the 2023 Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey and the Search for Life Science Analysis Group. She also works toward increasing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the geosciences and STEM.