Stanford researchers have developed a model that explains how lava-covered worlds close to their stars can retain their atmospheres. The new theory could inform the search for life beyond our solar system. 

An associate professor in Earth and planetary sciences, Willenbring has introduced hundreds of students to the field and created a welcoming, engaging space for them to learn.

Through experiments comparing living representatives of animal groups that dominated Paleozoic oceans with those that thrive today, Stanford scientists have directly linked the disappearance of once-dominant marine groups to intolerable heat and diminished oxygen in ancient oceans.