Research Interests

• Origin of life.
• Habitability of Mars.
• Microbes in volcanic rocks on Earth.
• Volcanic processes on mid-ocean ridges and ocean islands.
• The Ocean Drilling Program.

Education

• B.S., University of Vermont (Physics), 1969
• Ph.D., University of Rhode Island (Oceanography), 1978

Most Recent Teaching

GEO 331 Astrobiology: Life Beyond Earth. Co-taught with Rick Colwell from 2010 to 2023. The course examined the question, 'Is there life elsewhere in the solar system, galaxy, and universe?'

Honors

Fulbright Scholar, Center for Geobiology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway 2012.

Recent and Significant Publications

(Please email me for copies.)

Fisk, M.R., Popa R. 2023 Decorated Vesicles as Prebiont Systems (a Hypothesis), Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres

Fisk, M.R., Popa, R., Wacey, D. 2019 Tunnel formation in basalt glass, Astrobiology 19:132-144. doi: 10.1089/ast.2017.1791.

Fisk, M.R and McLoughlin, N. 2013 Atlas of alteration textures in volcanic glass from the ocean basins, Geosphere, v. 9 p. 317-341. doi: 10.1130/GES00827.1

Fisk, M. R., and Giovannoni, S. J., 1999 Sources of nutrients and energy for a deep biosphere on Mars. J. Geophys. Res. 104: 11805-11815. doi: 10.1029/1999JE900010

Fisk, M.R., Giovannoni, S.J., and Thorseth, I.H., 1998 Alteration of oceanic volcanic glass: textural evidence of microbial activity. Science 281, 978-980. doi: 10.1126/science.281.5379.978