Kathy Campbell

Dr. Kathy Campbell is a geologist, paleoecologist and astrobiologist investigating organism-sediment interactions, particularly in extreme environments such as hot and cold springs on land and in the sea, which are analog settings for early life on Earth and possible life elsewhere in the Solar System. These (paleo)environments also are relevant to the exploration for precious metals, critical minerals and energy.

Campbell’s Ph.D. was undertaken in geological sciences at the University of Southern California, followed by a U.S. National Research Council-NASA post-doctoral appointment at NASA Ames Research Center, after which she joined the faculty at The University of Auckland. She has worked with colleagues and students on multi-disciplinary research projects in New Zealand, Australia, Patagonia, South Africa, Iceland, the western U.S. and elsewhere. In 2026, Campbell joined the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at UC Davis.

Honors and awards: Campbell was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, was an invited senior research fellow at the Le Studium Institute for Advanced Studies in France and was a distinguished lecturer in astrobiology schools in Spain and Thailand.