Alexis Templeton

Research

Dr. Alexis Templeton is a Geomicrobiologist with a special focus on microbe-mineral interactions and the production of energy sources such as Hydrogen and Methane. Templeton’s research investigates how microbial life functions in the Earth’s subsurface environments, harnessing chemical energy produced as water flows and reacts through rocks.  Her work has moved from volcanoes in the Pacific to cold springs in the High Arctic to the mountains and deserts of the Arabian Peninsula.  Through funding from NASA, the Department of Energy, and the Grantham, Packard and Simons Foundations, she has led several large multi-disciplinary projects to investigate the subsurface biosphere on Earth and the potential for similar life forms to exist elsewhere in our solar system. 

Currently Templeton is developing projects around the world with academic, government and industry partners to harness hydrogen produced naturally by the Earth as a future clean energy source.  She is also leading the "Rock Hydrogen Project", an international effort designed to test whether it is feasible to engineer the production of hydrogen from ultramafic rocks through a Pilot project located in Oman.

Keywords

Geomicrobiology, clean energy, geological hydrogen, environmental geochemistry, environmental microbiology, x-ray spectroscopy 

Department Topic Areas

• Primary: Geobiology & Astrobiology, Geochemistry
• Secondary: Earth Science Education, Planetary Geology

Education

• Postdoctoral: Scripps Institution of Oceanography 2002-2005
• Ph.D. Stanford University 2002; M.S. Dartmouth College 1995
• B.A. Dartmouth College 1993