Eric Gaidos   Professor of Geobiology   Dept. of Geology & Geophysics   University of Hawaii at Manoa   Voice: 1-808-956-"seven"897   FAX: 1-808-956-"five"512   e-mail: last-name"at"hawaii.edu Publications       Teaching       Vita I am interested in the origin and evolution of life on Earth, and planets around other stars as possible habitats for Earth-like life. My current research includes studies of M dwarf stars, which are much smaller and cooler than the Sun and might host habitable planets that are comparatively easy to detect. I lead a team that was the first to directly investigate microbial life in subglacial lakes (in Iceland). These unique environments and ecosystems are plausible analogs of possible counterparts on early Earth and Mars. I am interested in the connections between geologic, ecologic, and climatic change and the evolution of animal life and intelligence on Earth. I also have an (amateur so far) interest in archaeology and paleoanthropology. My research is supported by grants from the NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics, NASA Origins of Solar Systems, and NASA Astrobiology: Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology programs. I am currently supervising one graduate student (Andrew Mann, IfA) and one postdoc (Knicole Colon). A postdoctoral traineeship in exoplanet science is available to work on one or more of the projects at right. Contact me for details. And if you can submit a competitive proposal, consider this opportunity.

Current Research Projects SANDCASTLES: Spectroscopy of A Nearby Dwarf Catalog As Superior Targets for Low-mass Exoplanet Searches: Spectroscopic reconnaissance of the brightest 3000 M dwarf stars that will serve as the target catalog for future high-precision Doppler searches with infrared spectrographs to find planets as small as Earth. SANDCASTLE-North is complete and being published; SANDCASTLE-South is in progress. MERMAIDS: MEtal-Rich M dwarfs: An Infrared-selected Doppler Survey: A Doppler survey of metal-rich M dwarfs for giant planets using the High Dispersion Spectrograph on the Subaru Telescope. The goal is to better understand giant planet formation by identifying more such objects around M dwarfs. Stellar metallicity is confirmed by infrared spectra obtained using the NASA IRTF/SpeX. SEAWOLF: Search for Exoplanets by Analysis of WASP Optical Lightcurves and Followup: A search for transiting Neptune- to Jupiter-size planets among nearby late K and early M dwarf stars to compare with the Kepler mission and the MEarth survey. Lightcurves from the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) identify candidate systems and predict future possible transits that are vetted with precision photometry obtained at 1-2-meter telescopes. WAVES: Water, Atmospheres, and Volatiles on ExoplanetS: Theoretical and observational investigations of the incorporation, tranformation, and escape of water and other volatiles on planets in the compact habitable zones of M dwarfs. Of interest are the role of short-lived radionuclides in devolatilizing planetesimals, expected rates of volcanic degassing, operation of a magnetodynamo, and UV-escape and photochemistry.