Free to all. Arrive a few minutes early for the best snacks!

Water is everywhere. It’s two elements are the first and third most abundant elements in the universe. It is made in abundance in many environments and finds its way into planets of all shapes and sizes, where it modifies the properties of everything it touches. Water is crucial to life, both as a habitat and as a solvent. But it also has many other roles in the evolution of habitable and uninhabitable environments on a planetary scale. In this talk, Dr. Schaefer will discuss the ways in which Earth acquired its water, how water modifies the evolution and habitability of the Earth, and how the habitability of rocky exoplanets may differ. 

Laura Schaefer is an Assistant Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Stanford University. She is a planetary scientist who focuses on how volatiles and rocks react with each other to form the atmospheres of rocky planets, both inside and outside the Solar System. She is fascinated by lava worlds and the volcanic moon Io, as well as the distant past of Earth and neighbors Venus and Mars. When she’s not studying exoplanets, she is out rock climbing or hiking with her husband and her dog.

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