Former Geophysical Laboratory (GL) postdoctoral fellow Matt Schrenk joined DTM as a Carnegie Fellow on 21 February. A microbial geochemist, Schrenk studies feedbacks between microorganisms and their geochemical environment. He is particularly interested in microbial growth on and within rocks in polymer-encased structures known as biofilms. At GL, Schrenk studied biofilms in extreme habitats, such as highly acidic environments associated with acid mine drainage and high-temperature and high-pressure environments associated with deep-sea hydrothermal vents.

Schrenk is currently working with former DTM staff member Sara Seager, now at MIT, on assessing the prospects for life on extrasolar planets by developing applicable models for habitability and life detection on distant planets and in Earth's subsurface. Schrenk will be at DTM through August, when he will begin a faculty position in microbiology at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC.