Dr. Emily L. Cardarelli
Scientist at UCLA | JPL Postdoctoral Fellow | Stanford Earth System Science PhD  

​Google Scholar
I am a microbial ecologist and planetary scientist who seeks to detect signs of life and habitability on Mars and beyond. I use my interdisciplinary background in molecular biology, geology, and earth system science to understand life belowground on Earth and search for biosignatures preserved on Mars, the Moon, and beyond.

Research

From a systems-based approach, I think broadly about how microbes interact with their physical environments across spatial scales and through time. 

Zooming out from microbes to landscapes and time-traveling from modern landscapes to early Earth environments or across the solar system, my research seeks to address open questions in the following areas:

RIMFAX ground-penetrating radar on planetary surfaces

Subsurface microbial community dynamics

Land-water interface interactions

Machine Learning for planetary surfaces

Using laboratory-, field-, and mission-based studies, I link multiple disciplines by employing genomic, geochemical, and geophysical techniques for life detection in the environment.

---

​Where I'm working ...

LEARN MORE

My PhD field sites (mapped above) span across the American West. These sites are adjacent to rivers like the Colorado River, and represent active floodplains that seasonally flood. ​ 

Postdoctoral work in magnesite deposits from Kunwarara, QLD, Australia as an analog for Mg-carbonate deposits within Jezero crater, Mars.

Additional PhD work included analyzing ammonia-oxidizing archaeal diversity across an elevational - climate gradient on Hawai'i Island.

​