Karyn Rogers is an Associate Professor in Earth and Environmental Sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she also directs the Rensselaer Astrobiology Research and Education (RARE) Center. She earned an AB from Harvard University with a double concentration in both Earth & Planetary Sciences and Environmental Science & Public Policy. She received an MS from Stanford University, and an AM and a PhD from Washington University in St. Louis in Earth & Planetary Sciences. Prior to her arrival at RPI in 2013, Karyn previously held positions at the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institute for Science in Washington DC, as well as the University of Missouri and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Karyn’s research interests focus largely on habitability in extreme environments. Exploring everything from microbial diversity and activity to metabolic reaction energetics, and the synthesis of prebiotic molecules in early Earth environments, Karyn’s research has included field expeditions around the world, as well as the construction of a state-of-the-art high pressure experimental laboratory. Recently Karyn’s research group at RPI, the Habitability and Extreme Life Laboratory, has been focused on the impacts of elevated pressure on microbial growth and physiology, as well as the synthesis of prebiotic polymers in high temperature, high pressure, and geochemically variable conditions.