Raechel Harnoto
Biology Student
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Summer Intern NASA Ames

Hi! I'm Raechel Harnoto. I am a second year Biology major at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and I hope to get into astrobiology in the future. I am working as a summer student at NASA Ames Research Center, and I have been conducting a growth experiment examining the effects of low water activity due to kosmotropic salts on bacterial growth. I hope to find that kosmotropic salts make low water activity environments more habitable.

When I'm not doing science, I enjoy reading and all sorts of crafting. I'm very involved with the band program at my school. I am a brother of Kappa Kappa Psi (the national honorary fraternity for college band members), I play the flute and I will be joining the color guard for the upcoming marching season. I also used to do gymnastics and I still love to do cartwheels, handstands and walkovers on the lawn upon occasion.

I'm very excited for Lassen 2008, and I'm looking forward to a week of awesome science.