Dr. Bethany Theiling is a research scientist and co-lead of the Goddard Instrument Field Team (GIFT), a program dedicated to enabling and supporting planetary science through research of field analogs here on Earth. Dr. Theiling’s research is primarily focused on understanding the geochemistry and potential for life and life detection on icy ocean worlds of the solar system, including Europa (a moon of Jupiter) and Enceladus (a moon of Saturn). She has used similar techniques to explore biological productivity in lava caves on Earth as an analog for Mars. Dr. Theiling also leads teams that have developed machine learning tools to predict atmospheric and ocean chemistry and to identify biosignatures. They are now focusing on integrating these tools into an artificial intelligence focused on science observation and interpretation to enable new missions across the solar system.
