Rebecca Wipfler is a current PhD student working with Victoria Orphan at the California Institute of Technology researching microbes that live in the deep ocean. She is interested in understanding microbial metabolic activity and physiology at in situ conditions compared to ex situ laboratory conditions. Her favorite part of her work is going to sea on research expeditions and working with others to explore our deep oceans.
Rebecca has been aboard scientific expeditions with the E/V Nautilus and R/V Wester Flyer since 2017. She received a BS in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she studied extremophiles from Yellowstone National Park. Rebecca hopes to continue to study deep ocean microbiology and connect her research to understanding the limits of life on Earth and in our solar system through the field of astrobiology.
Cruises:
