Astrobiologist of the Month
July
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Every month we feature two astrobiologists from around the world. Our aim is for everyone to get to know each other, connect and network. If you would like to be featured, let us know here.
✉️ njt41 [at] cam [dot] ac [dot] uk
🌍 Cambridge, England, UK
Opportunities
Undergraduate students
PhD students
NICK TOSCA
“I'm a geochemist broadly interested in the long-term evolution of planetary surfaces. Our group aims to place constraints on paleoclimate, natural water chemistry and habitability of environments through theoretical and experimental geochemistry and analyses of ancient rocks and sediments. I am a Science Team member of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover mission and of the PIXL instrument team, I am involved in scientific planning for Mars Sample Return, and I am Associate Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Life in the Universe at the University of Cambridge. My hobbies include running, drumming, cooking, and chasing after my three young boys.”
Position
Professor of Mineralogy and Petrology at the University of Cambridge.
Career Pathway
Bachelor from University of Albany; Masters & PhD from Stony Brook University; Postdoc at Harvard's Origins of Life Initiative; Junior Research Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge; Lecturer at University of St Andrews; Associate Professor at University of Oxford; Professor at University of Cambridge.
Research Topics
Aqueous Geochemistry; Mineralogy; Precambrian Geology; Geology of Mars.
Why did you decide to become an Astrobiologist?
It was really through geochemistry, a subdiscipline of the Earth sciences that has taken me to some amazing places
If your lab/research group had a nickname, what would it be?
Something to do with espresso martinis
Are you accepting students?
Undergraduate and PhD students