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Kennda Lynch

December 14, 2023

Kennda Lian Lynch is an American astrobiologist and geomicrobiologist who studies polyextremophiles.[1][2] She has primarily been affiliated with NASA.[3] She identifies environments on Earth with characteristics that may be similar to environments on other planets, and creates models that help identify characteristics that would indicate an environment might host life.[4] Lynch also identifies what biosignatures might look like on other planets.[4][5] Much of Lynch's research on analog environments has taken place in the Pilot Valley Basin in the Great Salt Desert of northwestern Utah, U.S.[6] Her work in that paleolake basin informed the landing location of NASA's Perseverance Rover mission—at another paleolake basin called Jezero Crater.[7] Jim Greene, Chief Scientist at NASA, called Lynch "a perfect expert to be involved in the Perseverance rover."[8] Helping to select the proper landing site for NASA's first crewed mission to Mars in 2035 is another of Lynch's projects.[9] Lynch has appeared in multiple television series, as well as The New York Times,[7] Nature,[10] Scientific American,[11] and Popular Science.[6] Cell Press designated Lynch one of the most inspiring Black scientists in the United States.[12]

Kennda Lynch
Lynch at a Mars analog field site in Pilot Valley, Utah, U.S.
Born
United States
Occupation(s)Astrobiologist, scientist, engineer
Scientific career
FieldsAstrobiology, science, engineering
InstitutionsUniversities Space. Research Association - Lunar and Planetary Institute, NASA Johnson Space Center, Georgia Institute of Technology/University of Montana, Jacobs Sverdrup/ Lockheed Martin Space Operations, International Space Station Program, Abbott Laboratories, The Boeing Company
Academic advisorsDr. David Klaus (grad), Dr. Junko Munakata Marr (grad), Dr. John Spear (grad)

Early life and education edit

Kennda Lynch is the daughter of Marlene Cosby and Kenneth Lynch.[3] Both her parents worked at Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation, a defense contractor in Rockford, IL that worked on NASAs space shuttles.[3] After seeing The Empire Strikes Back just before her sixth birthday kindled Lynch's passion for space, her parents brought home pictures of space shuttles from Sundstrand, which further fed her interest.[3] Her mother was a Trekkie, so they also watched television shows from that franchise together.[3][9] Lynch jokes that her mother takes less credit for her interest, however, quoting Cosby as saying: “You were an alien from the beginning.”[9]

Lynch's mother was a Girl Scout and served as the chief executive officer of Drifting Dunes Girl Scout Council Inc,[13][14] and was a zoology major who wanted to be a veterinarian.[9] Her father also was a Boy Scout.[15] Lynch was also Girl Scout, including being appointed as the student delegate to the National Girl Scout Program Conference.[16] Lynch was raised spending a lot of time in nature.[15]

Lynch attended Boylan Catholic High School, where she was on the student council.[3] In 1991, Lynch was one of 40 Young Americans, a long-running program of the local newspaper, the Rockford Register, honoring extraordinary teenagers in the Rock River Valley.[3] She graduated from Boylan in 1993.[3]

Lynch attended the University of Illinois, planning to study general engineering.[3][5] She completed a summer internship with Mark R. Patterson[5] and another at Kennedy Space Center where she saw a space shuttle liftoff[8] and also discovered the field of Astrobiology.[5] Lynch and some friends also ran a theater company, "Actors in the Attic."[17] In 1999, Lynch was team leader for a NASA competition that was part of NASA's Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program at Ellington Field, near Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.[18][16] That competition won Lynch and her teammates an opportunity to carry out a fluid research experiment aboard the KC-135, an airplane that escapes Earth's gravity.[16] In 1999, Lynch graduated with a dual major in engineering and biology.[16][3]

Lynch earned a master's in aerospace engineering sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder.[3][17][16] She then received the NASA Harriet Jenkins Predoctoral Fellowship to complete her Ph.D. in environmental science and engineering at Colorado School of Mines.[19][20][16] During her doctoral program, she began her research in Utah.[21] She completed her Ph.D. in 2015[5] and moved to Georgia Institute of Technology as a postdoctoral fellow, where she continued her study of Mars analog environments.[5][9]

Career edit

Lynch first worked as a Metrology Engineer, Corporate Engineering Division at Abbot Laboratories. She then worked for Lockheed Martin for several years, followed by additional year at Jacobs Sverdrup. These two jobs were located in Houston, TX, at NASA Johnson Space Center.[3][4][5][16] At first Lynch worked as a project engineer on human space flight in the Crew and Thermal Systems division, where she developed habitation hardware for International Space Station astronauts.[4][16] Lynch met Kathy Thomas-Keprta, a specialist on the Allan Hills 84001 meteorite[17] and through Thomas-Kerpta, chief astrobiological scientist David S. McKay, for whom she went to work as a systems engineer.[5] Lynch contributed to the prototyping of robots for missions to Mars.[4][22]

While at graduate school, Lynch was a graduate research assistant, first at BioServe Space Technologies and then at the Laboratory For Atmospheric and Space Physics.[23] Her work was affiliated with NASA through NASA's Harriett Jenkins Pre-Doctoral Fellowship which funded her role as a predoctoral research fellow at the Colorado School of Mines.[19]

Postdoctoral work edit

In 2016, Lynch was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Rosenzweig Group at the University of Montana, in Missoula, MT, before moving to Georgia Tech, where she was a postdoctoral fellow from 2016 to 2019. Lynch started at Georgia Tech in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, working with James Wray, then worked with Frank Rosenzweig in the School of Biological Sciences.[24][25] When Lynch received a grant from the Ford Foundation she shifted her primary base of operations to the lab of EAS Assistant Jennifer Glass. During this period, astrobiology research took off at Georgia Tech, and Lynch was part of the Georgia Tech NASA Astrobiology Institute team.[26][25]

Since 2019, Lynch has been a staff scientist for Universities Space Research Association (USRA), located at Georgia Tech.[27][28]

Teaching, outreach, and mentoring edit

Lynch teaches and mentors students and also works to expand diversity in STEM education.[4] In her early years of working for at Johnson Space Center, she mentored high school and undergraduate students. In graduate school, she was a lab instructor, a teaching assistant, and a Teaching Fellow for Bechtel's K-5 Educational Initiative. Since 2013 she has been working with the SAGANet Virtual Mentoring Program.[29][30] She served a two-year term as a NASA Students Ambassador from 2010 to 2012. Additionally, Lynch does a lot of explaining of space science to the public, both directly and through the media.[4]

Research edit

Lynch summarizes her biosignature research as "All life poops."[8][31] In other words, all life uses energy and excretes waste products. Some of those waste products might be preserved and appear as biosignatures, telling us that life exists—or formerly existed.[8][32] Lynch identifies biosignatures in environments on Earth that might be analogous to ones on other planets, teaching us what signals we might use to recognize extraterrestrial life.[2][5][4][32]

Much of Lynch's biosignature research has focused on perchlorates, a kind of salt, in the Pilot Valley part of Great Salt Lake Desert, Utah, USA.[8][32] Pilot Valley is a hypersaline paleolake basin, an ancient lake that used to be quite deep but has now receded. It used to be a freshwater lake, but as climate change caused evaporation, it has become increasingly salinated. A lot of lake sediments remain, teeming with a diversity of microbes.[8][4][32] Lynch looks for microbial DNA and strives to understand what the microbial communities look like with regard to diversity, aspects of life such as what they eat or how they obtain energy, and even how various microbes interact with each other.[8][4][32] Lynch discovered the first known place on earth where there are both perchlorates and perchlorates-reducing (essentially perchlorates-consuming) microbes.[8]

Lynch selected Pilot Valley as the site to carry out research for her doctoral dissertation, "A Geobiological Investigation of the Hypersaline Sediments of Pilot Valley, Utah: A Terrestrial Analog to Ancient Lake Basins on Mars."[33] Ultimately, Jezero Crater was selected as the landing site for the 2020 Mars mission, Perseverance, because it is also a paleolake.[7][8] It is expected to contain percholates, and would be an ideal candidate for a location containing percholates-reducing bacteria, should there be signs of life on Mars. Because Jezero Crater has signs of a former delta, meaning water was flowing in from an upstream location, Lynch argues that sediments from three environments potentially converge there—from streams that flowed into the ancient lake; the actual Jezero lake; and groundwater that has surfaced following evaporation of the lake and the streams that feed it.[8][4]

Lynch won NASA's 2020 Selections for the Astrobiology Program Early Career Collaboration Award.[34] She will collaborate with University of Florida's Amy Williams on sample analysis and Georgetown University's Sarah Stewart on creating a tool for “Working Towards Life Detection Capability in Subsurface Transitional Habitable Zones on Mars.”[34]

Selected publications edit

Lynch has over fifty publications and conference publications as of early 2021.[32] She also serves as a manuscript reviewer for JGR Planets,[35] Geobiology, Astrobiology, Planetary and Space Science, as well as a peer reviewer for grants with the NASA Exobiology Program Peer Review Panel and the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF). Lynch also serves on the organizing committee of many conferences in her field and is a frequent presenter at conferences.[32][36]

Astrobiology edit

  • Hays, Lindsay E.; Graham, Heather V.; Des Marais, David J.; Hausrath, Elisabeth M.; Horgan, Briony; McCollom, Thomas M.; Parenteau, M. Niki; Potter-McIntyre, Sally L.; Williams, Amy J.; Lynch, Kennda L. (2017-02-08). "Biosignature Preservation and Detection in Mars Analog Environments". Astrobiology. 17 (4): 363–400. doi:10.1089/ast.2016.1627.
  • Abrevaya, Ximena C.; Anderson, Rika; Arney, Giada; Atri, Dimitra; Azúa-Bustos, Armando; Bowman, Jeff S.; Brazelton, William J.; Brennecka, Gregory A.; Carns, Regina; Chopra, Aditya; Colangelo-Lillis, Jesse (2016-08-01). Domagal-Goldman, Shawn D.; Wright, Katherine E.; Domagal-Goldman, Shawn D.; Wright, Katherine E.; Adamala, Katarzyna; Arina de la Rubia, Leigh; Bond, Jade; Dartnell, Lewis R.; Goldman, Aaron D. (eds.). "The Astrobiology Primer v2.0". Astrobiology. 16 (8): 561–653. doi:10.1089/ast.2015.1460.
  • Stoker, Carol; Dunagan, Stephen; Stevens, Todd; Amils, Ricardo; Gomez-Elvira, Javier; Fernandez, David; Hall, James; Lynch, Kennda; Cannon, Howard;Zavaleta, Jhony. (2004-01-01). "Mars Analog Rio Tinto Experiment (MARTE): 2003 Drilling Campaign to Search for a Subsurface Biosphere at Rio Tinto Spain". Lunar and Planetary Science XXXV: Astrobiology: Analogs and Applications to the Search for Life.
  • Lynch, Kennda L.; Horgan, Briony H.; Munakata‐Marr, Junko; Hanley, Jennifer; Schneider, Robin J.; Rey, Kevin A.; Spear, John R.; Jackson, W. Andrew; Ritter, Scott M. (2015). "Near-infrared spectroscopy of lacustrine sediments in the Great Salt Lake Desert: An analog study for Martian paleolake basins". Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. 120 (3): 599–623. doi:10.1002/2014JE004707

Education, outreach, and equity edit

  • K. LYNCH, P. LEIBER, M. PEDERSEN, M. TULI, T. LONGAZO, L. MILLER, S. PALMER, M. ZHANG. (2002). SETI and Astrobiology: Contact-A Youth Perspective. IAF abstracts, 34th COSPAR Scientific Assembly, 366.
  • Rathbun, J., E. Rivera-Valentin, J. Keane, C. Richey, K. Lynch, S. Diniega, L. Quick, and J. Vertesi. (2020). "Who is Missing in Planetary Science?: Recommendations to increase the number of Black and Latinx scientists." In AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts, vol. 52, no. 6, pp. 502–15.
  • Rivera-Valentín, E. G., Rathbun, J., Keane, J. T., Lynch, K., Richey, C., Diniega, S., & Vertesi, J. (2020). Who is missing in planetary science?: A demographic study of the planetary science workforce. White paper.
  • Diniega, S., Brooks, S., Gilmore, M., Lynch, K., Núñez, J., Quick, L., ... & Rathbun, J. (2020, October). Recognizing our colleagues of color in Planetary Science. In AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts (Vol. 52, No. 6, pp. 502–06).
  • Lynch, K. L., Diniega, S., Quick, L. C., Horst, S. M., Rivera-Valentin, E. G., & Rathbun, J. A. (2019, March). 50 Years of Planetary Science Workforce: Hidden Figures and the Legacy of Apollo. In Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (No. 2132, p. 3162).
  • Diniega S., Castillo-Rogez J., Daubar I., Filiberto J., Goudge T., Lynch K., Rutledge A., Rathbun J., Scully J., Smith R., Richey C., Udovicic C.T., and Villarreal M. (2020) Ensuring a safe and equitable workspace: The importance and feasibility of a Code of Conduct, along with clear policies regarding authorship and team membership. White Paper . LPI Contribution Number: LPI-002544.
  • K. Lynch “WALLE: Saving the Earth, Forecasting the Future” (Feature Story). NSBE Bridge Magazine. Summer 2008 Issue.
  • K. Lynch “Learning Life on Mars”. Magazine of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). March/April, 2007. Vol. 18. #4:57-59.

Other media edit

Lynch is a featured expert in three television episodes about life on other planets:

  • Explained: Extraterrestrial Life (2018)[37]
  • Glad You Asked: Will We Survive Mars? (2019)[37]
  • Alien Worlds: Janus (2020) [37]

References edit

  1. ^ "Astrobiologist: We should gene-hack new traits into Mars settlers". Futurism. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  2. ^ a b Oakes, Kelly (2019-06-18). "Ethiopia's Strange Volcanic Landscapes Are Irresistible to Scientists (and Tourists)". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Gary, Alex. "1991 Young American: Kennda Lynch". Rockford Register Star. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Smith, Yvette (2021-02-02). "Astrobiologist Kennda Lynch Uses Analogs on Earth to Find Life on Mars". NASA. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Emily, Scott (2017-05-10). "Exploring new worlds: GE alumna Kennda Lynch creates a career in astrobiology". The Grainger College of Engineering - University of Illinois. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  6. ^ a b Kaufman, Mark D. (15 February 2017). "Aliens are probably out there, according to Winston Churchill". Popular Science. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  7. ^ a b c Chang, Kenneth (2020-07-28). "How NASA Found the Ideal Hole on Mars to Land In". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Daines, Gary (2020-08-14). "Looking For Life in Ancient Lakes" (Season 4, Episode 15 ). Gravity Assist. NASA. Podcast. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  9. ^ a b c d e San Miguel, Renay (2019-02-26). "Searching for Life on Mars and Beyond". ScienceMatters. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  10. ^ Witze, Alexandra (2020-07-30). "NASA has launched the most ambitious Mars rover ever built: here's what happens next". Nature. 584 (7819): 15–16. Bibcode:2020Natur.584...15W. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-02257-w. PMID 32733099.
  11. ^ O'Callaghan, Jonathan. "Summer on Mars: NASA's Perseverance Rover Is One of Three Missions Ready to Launch". Scientific American. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  12. ^ Hinton, Antentor O. Jr. "100 more inspiring Black scientists in America". crosstalk.cell.com. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  13. ^ McCOLLUM, CARMEN. "Local Girl Scout councils merge with Chicago". nwitimes.com. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  14. ^ "2019 Adult Recognition Program Book | Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana". Issuu. 2019-04-06. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  15. ^ a b Soroye, Peter; Lynch, Kennda; Dalu, Tatenda; Ware, Jessica; Troutman, Alex; Matiwane, Aviwe; Patterson, Angelica (2020-10-29). "Black in Nature". Cell. 183 (3): 556–558. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2020.10.013. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 33125878.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h Woodmansee, Laura S. (2003). Women of space : cool careers on the final frontier. Burlington, Ont: Apogee Books. ISBN 1-894959-03-5. OCLC 52566600.
  17. ^ a b c "LPI recently welcomed a new staff scientist, Dr. Kennda Lynch, an astrobiologist and geomicrobiologist". Lunar and Planetary Institute. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  18. ^ Jon Hilkevitch Jon Hilkevitch is the Tribune's, transportation writer. "LOSE WEIGHT, THE NASA WAY STUDENTS GRAVITATE TO HOUSTON FOR A LITTLE ZERO-G ACTION: [CHICAGOLAND FINAL EDITION]." Chicago Tribune, Aug 29, 1999, pp. 10.
  19. ^ a b "NASA Harriett G. Jenkins Pre-doctoral Fellowship Project (JPFP)" (PDF). NASA.
  20. ^ "Bioastronautics Research Group". spot.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  21. ^ Kuzma, Cindy (2019-03-21). "University of Illinois Alumni". University of Illinois Alumni. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  22. ^ "Dr. Kennda L. Lynch". Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI). Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  23. ^ Hoehn, Alexander; Lynch, Kennda L.; Clawson, James; Freeman, Jacob B.; Kapit, Jason; Young, Suzanne M. M.; Kounaves, Samuel P.; Brown, Igor I. (2007-07-09). "Microbial Detection Array (MDA), a Novel Instrument for Unambiguous Detection of Microbial Metabolic Activity in Astrobiology Applications". Technical Paper. SAE Technical Paper Series. Warrendale, PA. 1. doi:10.4271/2007-01-3190.
  24. ^ "NASA Astrobiology Institute". astrobiology.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  25. ^ a b "Delving into the Perchlorate Diners of Pilot Valley, Utah". 2018-06-19.
  26. ^ "Delving into the Perchlorate Diners of Pilot Valley, Utah". Georgia Institute of Technology. 2018. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  27. ^ "A Celebration of NASA Astrobiology NAI: CAN-7 Grand Finale Jan. 25, 2020 Weblog post." NASA Astrobiology Blog, Washington: Newstex. Jan 27, 2020.
  28. ^ Talbert, Tricia (2016-05-27). "HLS2 Lectures and Briefings". NASA. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  29. ^ "Mentor Introduction Video". SAGANet. 2013. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  30. ^ Domagal-Goldman, Shawn D.; Wright, Katherine E.; Domagal-Goldman, Shawn D.; Wright, Katherine E.; Adamala, Katarzyna; Arina de la Rubia, Leigh; Bond, Jade; Dartnell, Lewis R.; Goldman, Aaron D.; Lynch, Kennda; Naud, Marie-Eve (2016-08-01). "The Astrobiology Primer v2.0". Astrobiology. 16 (8): 561–653. Bibcode:2016AsBio..16..561D. doi:10.1089/ast.2015.1460. ISSN 1531-1074. PMC 5008114. PMID 27532777.
  31. ^ Lynch, Kennda (2013-05-01). "All Life Poops! Kennda Lynch at LPSC". NASA Astrobiology. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  32. ^ a b c d e f g "Kennda Lynch". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  33. ^ Lynch, K. L. (2015). Geobiological investigation of the hypersaline sediments of Pilot Valley, Utah: a terrestrial analog to ancient lake basins on Mars, A (Doctoral dissertation, Colorado School of Mines).
  34. ^ a b "NASA Astrobiology". astrobiology.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  35. ^ Hauck, Steven A.; Baratoux, David; Stanley, Sabine (2016). "The 2015 peer reviewer appreciation". Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. 121 (2): 108–110. Bibcode:2016JGRE..121..108H. doi:10.1002/2016JE005002. ISSN 2169-9100.
  36. ^ "News". jenniferglass.com. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  37. ^ a b c "Kennda Lynch". IMDb. Retrieved 2021-03-02.

December 14, 2023
kennda, lynch, kennda, lian, lynch, american, astrobiologist, geomicrobiologist, studies, polyextremophiles, primarily, been, affiliated, with, nasa, identifies, environments, earth, with, characteristics, that, similar, environments, other, planets, creates, . Kennda Lian Lynch is an American astrobiologist and geomicrobiologist who studies polyextremophiles 1 2 She has primarily been affiliated with NASA 3 She identifies environments on Earth with characteristics that may be similar to environments on other planets and creates models that help identify characteristics that would indicate an environment might host life 4 Lynch also identifies what biosignatures might look like on other planets 4 5 Much of Lynch s research on analog environments has taken place in the Pilot Valley Basin in the Great Salt Desert of northwestern Utah U S 6 Her work in that paleolake basin informed the landing location of NASA s Perseverance Rover mission at another paleolake basin called Jezero Crater 7 Jim Greene Chief Scientist at NASA called Lynch a perfect expert to be involved in the Perseverance rover 8 Helping to select the proper landing site for NASA s first crewed mission to Mars in 2035 is another of Lynch s projects 9 Lynch has appeared in multiple television series as well as The New York Times 7 Nature 10 Scientific American 11 and Popular Science 6 Cell Press designated Lynch one of the most inspiring Black scientists in the United States 12 Kennda LynchLynch at a Mars analog field site in Pilot Valley Utah U S BornUnited StatesOccupation s Astrobiologist scientist engineerScientific careerFieldsAstrobiology science engineeringInstitutionsUniversities Space Research Association Lunar and Planetary Institute NASA Johnson Space Center Georgia Institute of Technology University of Montana Jacobs Sverdrup Lockheed Martin Space Operations International Space Station Program Abbott Laboratories The Boeing CompanyAcademic advisorsDr David Klaus grad Dr Junko Munakata Marr grad Dr John Spear grad Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career 2 1 Postdoctoral work 2 2 Teaching outreach and mentoring 3 Research 4 Selected publications 4 1 Astrobiology 4 2 Education outreach and equity 5 Other media 6 ReferencesEarly life and education editKennda Lynch is the daughter of Marlene Cosby and Kenneth Lynch 3 Both her parents worked at Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation a defense contractor in Rockford IL that worked on NASAs space shuttles 3 After seeing The Empire Strikes Back just before her sixth birthday kindled Lynch s passion for space her parents brought home pictures of space shuttles from Sundstrand which further fed her interest 3 Her mother was a Trekkie so they also watched television shows from that franchise together 3 9 Lynch jokes that her mother takes less credit for her interest however quoting Cosby as saying You were an alien from the beginning 9 Lynch s mother was a Girl Scout and served as the chief executive officer of Drifting Dunes Girl Scout Council Inc 13 14 and was a zoology major who wanted to be a veterinarian 9 Her father also was a Boy Scout 15 Lynch was also Girl Scout including being appointed as the student delegate to the National Girl Scout Program Conference 16 Lynch was raised spending a lot of time in nature 15 Lynch attended Boylan Catholic High School where she was on the student council 3 In 1991 Lynch was one of 40 Young Americans a long running program of the local newspaper the Rockford Register honoring extraordinary teenagers in the Rock River Valley 3 She graduated from Boylan in 1993 3 Lynch attended the University of Illinois planning to study general engineering 3 5 She completed a summer internship with Mark R Patterson 5 and another at Kennedy Space Center where she saw a space shuttle liftoff 8 and also discovered the field of Astrobiology 5 Lynch and some friends also ran a theater company Actors in the Attic 17 In 1999 Lynch was team leader for a NASA competition that was part of NASA s Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program at Ellington Field near Lyndon B Johnson Space Center 18 16 That competition won Lynch and her teammates an opportunity to carry out a fluid research experiment aboard the KC 135 an airplane that escapes Earth s gravity 16 In 1999 Lynch graduated with a dual major in engineering and biology 16 3 Lynch earned a master s in aerospace engineering sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder 3 17 16 She then received the NASA Harriet Jenkins Predoctoral Fellowship to complete her Ph D in environmental science and engineering at Colorado School of Mines 19 20 16 During her doctoral program she began her research in Utah 21 She completed her Ph D in 2015 5 and moved to Georgia Institute of Technology as a postdoctoral fellow where she continued her study of Mars analog environments 5 9 Career editLynch first worked as a Metrology Engineer Corporate Engineering Division at Abbot Laboratories She then worked for Lockheed Martin for several years followed by additional year at Jacobs Sverdrup These two jobs were located in Houston TX at NASA Johnson Space Center 3 4 5 16 At first Lynch worked as a project engineer on human space flight in the Crew and Thermal Systems division where she developed habitation hardware for International Space Station astronauts 4 16 Lynch met Kathy Thomas Keprta a specialist on the Allan Hills 84001 meteorite 17 and through Thomas Kerpta chief astrobiological scientist David S McKay for whom she went to work as a systems engineer 5 Lynch contributed to the prototyping of robots for missions to Mars 4 22 While at graduate school Lynch was a graduate research assistant first at BioServe Space Technologies and then at the Laboratory For Atmospheric and Space Physics 23 Her work was affiliated with NASA through NASA s Harriett Jenkins Pre Doctoral Fellowship which funded her role as a predoctoral research fellow at the Colorado School of Mines 19 Postdoctoral work edit In 2016 Lynch was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Rosenzweig Group at the University of Montana in Missoula MT before moving to Georgia Tech where she was a postdoctoral fellow from 2016 to 2019 Lynch started at Georgia Tech in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences working with James Wray then worked with Frank Rosenzweig in the School of Biological Sciences 24 25 When Lynch received a grant from the Ford Foundation she shifted her primary base of operations to the lab of EAS Assistant Jennifer Glass During this period astrobiology research took off at Georgia Tech and Lynch was part of the Georgia Tech NASA Astrobiology Institute team 26 25 Since 2019 Lynch has been a staff scientist for Universities Space Research Association USRA located at Georgia Tech 27 28 Teaching outreach and mentoring edit Lynch teaches and mentors students and also works to expand diversity in STEM education 4 In her early years of working for at Johnson Space Center she mentored high school and undergraduate students In graduate school she was a lab instructor a teaching assistant and a Teaching Fellow for Bechtel s K 5 Educational Initiative Since 2013 she has been working with the SAGANet Virtual Mentoring Program 29 30 She served a two year term as a NASA Students Ambassador from 2010 to 2012 Additionally Lynch does a lot of explaining of space science to the public both directly and through the media 4 Research editLynch summarizes her biosignature research as All life poops 8 31 In other words all life uses energy and excretes waste products Some of those waste products might be preserved and appear as biosignatures telling us that life exists or formerly existed 8 32 Lynch identifies biosignatures in environments on Earth that might be analogous to ones on other planets teaching us what signals we might use to recognize extraterrestrial life 2 5 4 32 Much of Lynch s biosignature research has focused on perchlorates a kind of salt in the Pilot Valley part of Great Salt Lake Desert Utah USA 8 32 Pilot Valley is a hypersaline paleolake basin an ancient lake that used to be quite deep but has now receded It used to be a freshwater lake but as climate change caused evaporation it has become increasingly salinated A lot of lake sediments remain teeming with a diversity of microbes 8 4 32 Lynch looks for microbial DNA and strives to understand what the microbial communities look like with regard to diversity aspects of life such as what they eat or how they obtain energy and even how various microbes interact with each other 8 4 32 Lynch discovered the first known place on earth where there are both perchlorates and perchlorates reducing essentially perchlorates consuming microbes 8 Lynch selected Pilot Valley as the site to carry out research for her doctoral dissertation A Geobiological Investigation of the Hypersaline Sediments of Pilot Valley Utah A Terrestrial Analog to Ancient Lake Basins on Mars 33 Ultimately Jezero Crater was selected as the landing site for the 2020 Mars mission Perseverance because it is also a paleolake 7 8 It is expected to contain percholates and would be an ideal candidate for a location containing percholates reducing bacteria should there be signs of life on Mars Because Jezero Crater has signs of a former delta meaning water was flowing in from an upstream location Lynch argues that sediments from three environments potentially converge there from streams that flowed into the ancient lake the actual Jezero lake and groundwater that has surfaced following evaporation of the lake and the streams that feed it 8 4 Lynch won NASA s 2020 Selections for the Astrobiology Program Early Career Collaboration Award 34 She will collaborate with University of Florida s Amy Williams on sample analysis and Georgetown University s Sarah Stewart on creating a tool for Working Towards Life Detection Capability in Subsurface Transitional Habitable Zones on Mars 34 Selected publications editLynch has over fifty publications and conference publications as of early 2021 32 She also serves as a manuscript reviewer for JGR Planets 35 Geobiology Astrobiology Planetary and Space Science as well as a peer reviewer for grants with the NASA Exobiology Program Peer Review Panel and the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship NESSF Lynch also serves on the organizing committee of many conferences in her field and is a frequent presenter at conferences 32 36 Astrobiology edit Hays Lindsay E Graham Heather V Des Marais David J Hausrath Elisabeth M Horgan Briony McCollom Thomas M Parenteau M Niki Potter McIntyre Sally L Williams Amy J Lynch Kennda L 2017 02 08 Biosignature Preservation and Detection in Mars Analog Environments Astrobiology 17 4 363 400 doi 10 1089 ast 2016 1627 Abrevaya Ximena C Anderson Rika Arney Giada Atri Dimitra Azua Bustos Armando Bowman Jeff S Brazelton William J Brennecka Gregory A Carns Regina Chopra Aditya Colangelo Lillis Jesse 2016 08 01 Domagal Goldman Shawn D Wright Katherine E Domagal Goldman Shawn D Wright Katherine E Adamala Katarzyna Arina de la Rubia Leigh Bond Jade Dartnell Lewis R Goldman Aaron D eds The Astrobiology Primer v2 0 Astrobiology 16 8 561 653 doi 10 1089 ast 2015 1460 Stoker Carol Dunagan Stephen Stevens Todd Amils Ricardo Gomez Elvira Javier Fernandez David Hall James Lynch Kennda Cannon Howard Zavaleta Jhony 2004 01 01 Mars Analog Rio Tinto Experiment MARTE 2003 Drilling Campaign to Search for a Subsurface Biosphere at Rio Tinto Spain Lunar and Planetary Science XXXV Astrobiology Analogs and Applications to the Search for Life Lynch Kennda L Horgan Briony H Munakata Marr Junko Hanley Jennifer Schneider Robin J Rey Kevin A Spear John R Jackson W Andrew Ritter Scott M 2015 Near infrared spectroscopy of lacustrine sediments in the Great Salt Lake Desert An analog study for Martian paleolake basins Journal of Geophysical Research Planets 120 3 599 623 doi 10 1002 2014JE004707Education outreach and equity edit K LYNCH P LEIBER M PEDERSEN M TULI T LONGAZO L MILLER S PALMER M ZHANG 2002 SETI and Astrobiology Contact A Youth Perspective IAF abstracts 34th COSPAR Scientific Assembly 366 Rathbun J E Rivera Valentin J Keane C Richey K Lynch S Diniega L Quick and J Vertesi 2020 Who is Missing in Planetary Science Recommendations to increase the number of Black and Latinx scientists In AAS Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts vol 52 no 6 pp 502 15 Rivera Valentin E G Rathbun J Keane J T Lynch K Richey C Diniega S amp Vertesi J 2020 Who is missing in planetary science A demographic study of the planetary science workforce White paper Diniega S Brooks S Gilmore M Lynch K Nunez J Quick L amp Rathbun J 2020 October Recognizing our colleagues of color in Planetary Science In AAS Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts Vol 52 No 6 pp 502 06 Lynch K L Diniega S Quick L C Horst S M Rivera Valentin E G amp Rathbun J A 2019 March 50 Years of Planetary Science Workforce Hidden Figures and the Legacy of Apollo In Lunar and Planetary Science Conference No 2132 p 3162 Diniega S Castillo Rogez J Daubar I Filiberto J Goudge T Lynch K Rutledge A Rathbun J Scully J Smith R Richey C Udovicic C T and Villarreal M 2020 Ensuring a safe and equitable workspace The importance and feasibility of a Code of Conduct along with clear policies regarding authorship and team membership White Paper LPI Contribution Number LPI 002544 K Lynch WALLE Saving the Earth Forecasting the Future Feature Story NSBE Bridge Magazine Summer 2008 Issue K Lynch Learning Life on Mars Magazine of the National Society of Black Engineers NSBE March April 2007 Vol 18 4 57 59 Other media editLynch is a featured expert in three television episodes about life on other planets Explained Extraterrestrial Life 2018 37 Glad You Asked Will We Survive Mars 2019 37 Alien Worlds Janus 2020 37 References edit Astrobiologist We should gene hack new traits into Mars settlers Futurism Retrieved 2021 03 02 a b Oakes Kelly 2019 06 18 Ethiopia s Strange Volcanic Landscapes Are Irresistible to Scientists and Tourists Atlas Obscura Retrieved 2021 03 02 a b c d e f g h i j k l Gary Alex 1991 Young American Kennda Lynch Rockford Register Star Retrieved 2021 03 02 a b c d e f g h i j k Smith Yvette 2021 02 02 Astrobiologist Kennda Lynch Uses Analogs on Earth to Find Life on Mars NASA Retrieved 2021 03 02 a b c d e f g h i Emily Scott 2017 05 10 Exploring new worlds GE alumna Kennda Lynch creates a career in astrobiology The Grainger College of Engineering University of Illinois Retrieved 2021 03 03 a b Kaufman Mark D 15 February 2017 Aliens are probably out there according to Winston Churchill Popular Science Retrieved 2021 03 02 a b c Chang Kenneth 2020 07 28 How NASA Found the Ideal Hole on Mars to Land In The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 2021 03 02 a b c d e f g h i j Daines Gary 2020 08 14 Looking For Life in Ancient Lakes Season 4 Episode 15 Gravity Assist NASA Podcast Retrieved 2021 03 02 a b c d e San Miguel Renay 2019 02 26 Searching for Life on Mars and Beyond ScienceMatters Retrieved 2021 03 02 Witze Alexandra 2020 07 30 NASA has launched the most ambitious Mars rover ever built here s what happens next Nature 584 7819 15 16 Bibcode 2020Natur 584 15W doi 10 1038 d41586 020 02257 w PMID 32733099 O Callaghan Jonathan Summer on Mars NASA s Perseverance Rover Is One of Three Missions Ready to Launch Scientific American Retrieved 2021 03 02 Hinton Antentor O Jr 100 more inspiring Black scientists in America crosstalk cell com Retrieved 2021 03 03 McCOLLUM CARMEN Local Girl Scout councils merge with Chicago nwitimes com Retrieved 2021 03 02 2019 Adult Recognition Program Book Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana Issuu 2019 04 06 Retrieved 2021 03 02 a b Soroye Peter Lynch Kennda Dalu Tatenda Ware Jessica Troutman Alex Matiwane Aviwe Patterson Angelica 2020 10 29 Black in Nature Cell 183 3 556 558 doi 10 1016 j cell 2020 10 013 ISSN 0092 8674 PMID 33125878 a b c d e f g h Woodmansee Laura S 2003 Women of space cool careers on the final frontier Burlington Ont Apogee Books ISBN 1 894959 03 5 OCLC 52566600 a b c LPI recently welcomed a new staff scientist Dr Kennda Lynch an astrobiologist and geomicrobiologist Lunar and Planetary Institute Retrieved 2021 03 02 Jon Hilkevitch Jon Hilkevitch is the Tribune s transportation writer LOSE WEIGHT THE NASA WAY STUDENTS GRAVITATE TO HOUSTON FOR A LITTLE ZERO G ACTION CHICAGOLAND FINAL EDITION Chicago Tribune Aug 29 1999 pp 10 a b NASA Harriett G Jenkins Pre doctoral Fellowship Project JPFP PDF NASA Bioastronautics Research Group spot colorado edu Retrieved 2021 03 03 Kuzma Cindy 2019 03 21 University of Illinois Alumni University of Illinois Alumni Retrieved 2021 03 03 Dr Kennda L Lynch Lunar and Planetary Institute LPI Retrieved 2021 03 03 Hoehn Alexander Lynch Kennda L Clawson James Freeman Jacob B Kapit Jason Young Suzanne M M Kounaves Samuel P Brown Igor I 2007 07 09 Microbial Detection Array MDA a Novel Instrument for Unambiguous Detection of Microbial Metabolic Activity in Astrobiology Applications Technical Paper SAE Technical Paper Series Warrendale PA 1 doi 10 4271 2007 01 3190 NASA Astrobiology Institute astrobiology nasa gov Retrieved 2021 03 03 a b Delving into the Perchlorate Diners of Pilot Valley Utah 2018 06 19 Delving into the Perchlorate Diners of Pilot Valley Utah Georgia Institute of Technology 2018 Retrieved 2021 03 03 A Celebration of NASA Astrobiology NAI CAN 7 Grand Finale Jan 25 2020 Weblog post NASA Astrobiology Blog Washington Newstex Jan 27 2020 Talbert Tricia 2016 05 27 HLS2 Lectures and Briefings NASA Retrieved 2021 03 03 Mentor Introduction Video SAGANet 2013 Retrieved 2021 03 03 Domagal Goldman Shawn D Wright Katherine E Domagal Goldman Shawn D Wright Katherine E Adamala Katarzyna Arina de la Rubia Leigh Bond Jade Dartnell Lewis R Goldman Aaron D Lynch Kennda Naud Marie Eve 2016 08 01 The Astrobiology Primer v2 0 Astrobiology 16 8 561 653 Bibcode 2016AsBio 16 561D doi 10 1089 ast 2015 1460 ISSN 1531 1074 PMC 5008114 PMID 27532777 Lynch Kennda 2013 05 01 All Life Poops Kennda Lynch at LPSC NASA Astrobiology Retrieved 2021 03 03 a b c d e f g Kennda Lynch scholar google com Retrieved 2021 03 03 Lynch K L 2015 Geobiological investigation of the hypersaline sediments of Pilot Valley Utah a terrestrial analog to ancient lake basins on Mars A Doctoral dissertation Colorado School of Mines a b NASA Astrobiology astrobiology nasa gov Retrieved 2021 03 03 Hauck Steven A Baratoux David Stanley Sabine 2016 The 2015 peer reviewer appreciation Journal of Geophysical Research Planets 121 2 108 110 Bibcode 2016JGRE 121 108H doi 10 1002 2016JE005002 ISSN 2169 9100 News jenniferglass com Retrieved 2021 03 03 a b c Kennda Lynch IMDb Retrieved 2021 03 02 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Kennda Lynch amp oldid 1177365254, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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