Kristin Johnson-Finn is an Assistant Professor in the department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at RPI. Johnson-Finn first joined the astrobiology community during her PhD at ASU and continued in the origin of life field as a research scientist at ELSI (Earth-Life Science Institute) in Tokyo, Japan prior to her faculty appointment at RPI. The Johnson-Finn research team is named PENGUIN (People Exploring Nascent Geomimicry Utilizing Investigative Networks) and work in the PENGUIN lab is carried out through either hydrothermal experiments, thermodynamic calculations, or electrochemical measurements. Her specific research interests are tracking the mechanisms and kinetics of organic compound transformations in the presence of minerals and constructing chemical pathway maps to guide further exploration of the abiotic baseline on different worlds. The PENGUIN lab can be found in the Cogswell Laboratory building.

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