Execute a balanced science program based on discipline-specific guidance from the national academies of sciences engineering and medicine administration priorities and direction from congress

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Shared Services Center awarded The Washington University $725,955 on January 1, 2026, under the Science program (CFDA 43.001) to execute a balanced science program based on discipline-specific guidance from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and congressional direction.

The award funds research on environmental change across the Great Oxygenation Event through the project "Drilling down: Resolving Spatial and Temporal Environmental Change Across the Great Oxygenation Event," performed in University City, Missouri, through December 31, 2028.

Washington University passes funding to three sub-recipients performing specialized geochemical and geochronological analyses. Duke University, through the Office of Research Administration, conducts redox-sensitive trace metal isotopic analyses—molybdenum, uranium, and selenium isotope measurements of carbonate and shale sedimentary rocks recovered in the GOE-DEEP drilling project—under the supervision of PI Michael Kipp, with analytical work performed by postdoctoral researcher Dr. Chenyi Tu. Yale University's Metal Geochemistry and Geochronology Center, under Co-Director Alan Rooney, performs rhenium-osmium geochronology and osmium and platinum-group element isotope geochemistry, including sample preparation, wet chemistry, mass spectrometry analyses, and data reduction, with work conducted by a graduate student over the award period. The University of Chicago, under Co-I Clara Blattler, assesses preservation of carbonate-based geochemical proxies through calcium, magnesium, and sulfur isotope ratio analysis, supported by a graduate student for three months annually across all three years.

Participate as a key partner and enabler in the age