STA Alumna Makes Rare Discovery, Shares Scientific Expertise

March 21, 2023

Sarah Moran, Ph.D. (’11),  Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Arizona’s Lunar & Planetary Laboratory, was among a team of scientists that discovered the first detection of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet with the Webb Telescope. Her work was featured in Science magazine in January 2023.

Dr. Moran will share her expertise with the Kansas City community at Park University’s Johnson Family Lecture Series in Science on Monday, April 24. She will present and lead a discussion on “Strange New Worlds: Exoplanet Atmospheres Through the Eyes of the James Webb Space Telescope.” The lecture will begin at 7 p.m. in the Jenkin and Barbara David Theater inside Alumni Hall on the university’s campus in Parkville, Missouri. Admission to the lecture is free and open to the public. A reception, beginning at 6:30 p.m., will precede the lecture.

Moran is the first Postdoctoral Fellow at the Lunar & Planetary Laboratory. She will discuss the chemistry, clouds and climates of worlds within and beyond the solar system as part of her presentation, and also will provide information related to the first year of observations of other planets with the James Webb Space Telescope. In addition, she will put into context what these discoveries mean for finding habitable — and possibly inhabited — worlds in the future, as steps are taken along the road to answering the big question: Are we alone?

Moran earned her Doctor of Philosophy degree (2021) and Master of Arts degree (2018), both in planetary sciences, from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in astrophysics (2015) from Barnard College/Columbia University in New York.

Sarah Moran’s discoveries may lead to finding habitable — and possibly inhabited — worlds in the future, as steps are taken along the road to answering the big question: Are we alone?