Graduate Research Assistant
Medha is a PhD candidate at The University of Texas at Austin Jackson School of Geosciences. She is broadly interested in astrobiology, impact craters, planetary surface processes, and the philosophy of science.
She currently works with Sean Gulick and Cyril Grima to use various types of remote sensing data to constrain the shallow subsurface stratigraphy of Schrödinger Basin (a site relevant to Artemis/CLPS and SPARX) and understand the depositional mechanisms responsible. She is now collaborating with Ralph Milliken and Katya Yanez at Brown University to characterize the Rochechouart impact-hydrothermal system using VNIR spectroscopy and understand its habitable potential. She’s also been investigating the philosophy of space exploration and understanding how it has evolved through history and cultures.
Previous work includes quantitative geomorphological investigations of sinuous ridges on Mars using terrestrial esker analogs as well as syntheses of mineral-mediated carbon reduction investigations done in analog prebiotic Earth and early Martian environments and hypothesized metabolisms of Europa and Enceladus.
In her free time, she enjoys playing tennis, watching Formula 1, baking, and anything Harry Potter (and more).
Interests
Astrobiology, planetary surface processes, ice sheets, paleoclimate, Mars, prebiotic Earth, Schrödinger crater, radar, philosophy of space exploration.
Academics
Ph.D., Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin (Expected May 2028)
B.S., Environmental Sciences and Statistics (double major), University of Virginia