An Essex University alumni, celebrated for her research into extraterrestrial life, particularly on Mars, will be honoured at the University’s inaugural graduation ceremony in India.
Anushree Srivastava, an Essex Masters graduate in Biotechnology, is set to receive the Vice-Chancellor Award. She joins the ranks of three other Indian Essex graduates and postgraduates who have previously received this award, which acknowledges the significant global impact of the University’s alumni.
Post her Masters in 2016, Anushree engaged in an extensive Mars simulation mission at both the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah and the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station in Canada. Her involvement included challenging Extra Vehicular Activities (EVAs) in a 12kg spacesuit. Her experiences during this mission were featured in Dan Richards’s book, ‘Outpost: A journey to the Wild Ends of the Earth’.
Anushree’s career trajectory includes pivotal Mars analogue research projects and a significant role at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland, under the guidance of planetary scientist Dr. Paul Mahaffy. Her contributions there, particularly aiding the Mars Curiosity rover team in detecting Martian organics, culminated in a co-authored paper in Nature Astronomy.
She has since completed her PhD in Astrobiology with the AstrobiologyOU Group at The Open University, UK, collaborating with Professor Karen Olsson-Francis, Dr. Victoria Pearson, and Essex’s Professor Terry McGenity. Her PhD research led to the discovery of three new microorganism species from Mars-like salt samples.
Anushree is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Carnegie Institute for Science in Washington DC, where she works with Dr. Andrew Steele on NASA’s Mars 2020 mission as an Astrobiologist.
Upon receiving the award, Anushree expressed her gratitude and fond memories of Essex: “I am extremely grateful and happy to accept this award. Studying at Essex was a big move for me, especially as a girl coming from India, from a totally unconventional background dreaming to study astrobiology, but the University has been instrumental in my journey, and I will always look back fondly on my time there. I cannot wait to reunite with my fellow alumni and graduates from Essex, and it will be such a special day to have my family there to see me receive the award.”
Essex Vice-Chancellor, Professor Anthony Forster, praised Anushree’s inspiring journey: “Anushree is a hugely inspirational figure among our alumni community and many of our past and present students at Essex can relate to her incredible journey. From working with NASA to helping experts detect organics on Mars; what she has achieved since graduating is truly extraordinary. I have no doubt that Anushree’s natural curiosity – a characteristic that we so proudly celebrate here at Essex – will see her strive for even greater success and I look forward to hearing more about her fascinating work at our graduation ceremony in India.”
The ceremony will also honour other Vice-Chancellor Award recipients, including Sanchita Ain, Ankit Mehrotra, and Manish Michael.
