INTRODUCTION

Dr. Macalady is an Associate Professor of Geosciences at The Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA. She serves as a faculty advisor in the Geosciences, Ecology, Astrobiology and Biogeochemistry graduate degree programs, and is a founding member of the Penn State Microbiome Center and the Penn State Extraterrestrial Intelligence Center. In 2021, she became the Acting Director of the Penn State’s Astrobiology Research Center (ARC). The Macalady group studies the geochemistry, ecology and evolution of microbial behavior in the environment.