Mary Beth Wilhelm, Ph.D.

Dr. Wilhelm is an organic biogeochemist, astrobiologist, and planetary scientist at NASA in Silicon Valley, California. She is leading an effort to design and develop new types of instrumentation to search for life beyond Earth. Dr. Wilhelm completed her Ph.D. in Planetary Science at Georgia Tech in 2017 and her bachelor’s in Earth & Planetary Science at Cornell University in 2012. She began working at NASA Ames as a high school intern in 2006 and in 2009 became the youngest Civil Servant hired in the Planetary Systems Division. Her research has taken her all over the planet allowing her the opportunity to do field work in the Atacama Desert, Chile and Queen Maud Land, Antarctica.