By: Liz Do
20 Feb, 2024
In Memoriam: Jan Amend
February 20, 2024
Jan Amend, a leading researcher in identifying microbial ocean life, was an Advisory Committee Chair in CIFAR’s Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration program
The CIFAR community is mourning the loss of Jan Amend. Amend was the inaugural Chair of CIFAR’s Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration Advisory Committee, and a professor of biological sciences and Earth sciences at the University of Southern California. He passed away on January 31, 2024 at the age of 59.
“Jan made invaluable contributions and helped to shape the direction and focus of this global research network,” said Daniel Bacinello, Director, Research and Lead Foresight, at CIFAR. “I’ve heard from many of our Earth 4D community since we learned of his passing; he will be greatly missed, not only as a researcher, peer and mentor but also as the kind, generous and remarkable individual that he was.”
Amend’s research focused on understanding and identifying life in extreme environments and redefining how we think about the habitability of life on Earth and in the universe. Learning about microbial life deep underground may provide invaluable information about the emergence of life nearly 4 billion years ago, from the co-evolution of the Earth and its inhabitants, to life on other planetary bodies in the solar system.
Amend was the Principal Investigator of the NASA-funded Astrobiology Institute from 2013 to 2018, which focused on microbial activity in the continental deep subsurface. He was also the Director of the Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations (CDEBI), which investigates the microbiology of sediments and rocks below the ocean floor.
“On behalf of CIFAR, I would like to extend my deepest condolences to Jan’s family, friends and colleagues,” said Stephen Toope, President & CEO of CIFAR. “Jan was a greatly respected researcher and his contributions have helped not only advance our understanding of microbial life on Earth and beyond, but his work as Advisory Committee Chair has also enabled profoundly important collaborations within our Earth 4D program.”
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