Dr. Jesica Urbina is driven by a passion for leveraging science to address pressing environmental challenges. Her expertise is in environmental toxicology and biochemistry, coupled with a deep understanding of microbial processes. Her team has been at the forefront of creating "green" mining and recycling alternatives, a testament to her previous role as an in situ resource utilization scientist at NASA Ames Research Center where she focused on using biomining approaches to extract and recover metals from minerals like those found on the moon and Mars. Urbina earned a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.