Debjeet

Pathak

My research during my PhD aimed to understand the behavior and fates of life-essential elements [e.g., carbon (C), nitrogen (N), sulfur (S), hydrogen (H), and phosphorus (P)] during early Solar System processes that contributed to the formation of rocky planets such as Earth. I combine high-pressure-temperature laboratory experiments, thermodynamic and geochemical modeling, and astrophysical models of planet formation to holistically constrain the pathways that likely led to chemically habitable conditions for Earth-like rocky planets. At Carnegie, I intend to incorporate geophysical methods alongside geochemical ones, to investigate the cyclicity of life-essential volatiles, like H and C within the geochemical reservoirs of Earth and other planets.