SETI Institute names first Frank Drake Postdoctoral Fellow

Fellowship will drive Innovation in the search for life beyond Earth

2025-02-11

(Press-News.org) February 11, 2025, Mountain View, CA -- The SETI Institute awarded the first Frank Drake Postdoctoral Fellowship to Dr. Anastasia Yanchilina. Yanchilina will focus on distinguishing biosignatures from false positives across space and time. Her research combines experimental and analytical research to refine biosignature detection techniques. She will conduct lab experiments to generate key mineral analogs and study Earth’s extreme environments to understand what potential signs of life to look for on other planets.

“It has long been my scientific dream to explore whether life exists beyond Earth and what it may look like,” said Yanchilina. “I am deeply honored to join the SETI Institute as a Frank Drake Postdoctoral Fellow. This fellowship offers an extraordinary opportunity to advance my scientific career and contribute to our search for biosignatures.”

Yanchilina is particularly interested in Ocean Worlds in our solar system. She seeks to produce mineral samples in the lab that will mimic features we may observe near locations of hydrothermal vents that could form in the extraterrestrial oceans of Enceladus and Europa and could have formed in hydrothermal settings on ancient Mars.

Yanchilina has a PhD in Earth and Environmental Sciences from Columbia University and conducted postdoctoral research at the Weizmann Institute of Science, exploring the formation of deep-sea cherts. She also contributed to innovative spectroscopy technology for deep ocean and deep space applications at Impossible Sensing, LLC, and furthered her research at the California Institute of Technology.

“The search for life beyond Earth is one of the most profound scientific endeavors of our time, and the Frank Drake Fellowship embodies the spirit of exploration and discovery that Frank Drake championed,” said Dr. Nathalie Cabrol, Director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute. “We are thrilled to welcome Anastasia as our first fellow. Her innovative approach to biosignature detection and her dedication to understanding the conditions that could support life on other worlds will push the boundaries of our knowledge. We look forward to the impact of her research in shaping the future of astrobiology.”

The Frank Drake Postdoctoral Fellowship offers early-career scientists a unique opportunity to make impactful contributions across the diverse fields of the Drake Equation, including Astronomy & Astrophysics, Astrobiology, Environmental Science, Geoscience, Life Science, Planetary Science, Planetary and Space Exploration, Cognitive Science, Biosignature and Technosignature Detection, Computing and Data Science, and Epistemology—fostering new intellectual frameworks for the search for life.

The Fellowship will accept applications annually – the selection process for the 2025 fellowship is underway.

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SETI Institute names first Frank Drake Postdoctoral Fellow

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