Members

Harrison Smith received his B.S. in physics and astronomy from the University of Michigan in 2012, where he also did research developing cosmology instrumentation. He briefly worked as a cubesat engineer in NASA Ames' Mission Design Division, before deciding to return to science for a Ph.D. at Arizona State University. While at ASU, his research ranged from trace-metal isotope geochemistry to universal biology, but primarily focused on applying computational methods from complex systems to biochemical data in order to better understand what makes living systems special. After receiving his Ph.D. in 2018, he joined the Earth-Life Science Institute at Tokyo Tech (now Institute of Science Tokyo) as a research scientist. Now a specially appointed associate professor, he continues to work on a variety of astrobiology topics, including how to distinguish between living and non-living systems.