Dr. Thomas L. Kieft is an environmental microbiologist who investigates the ecology and biogeochemistry of microbes in extreme environments. He is a professor of Biology atNew Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. He went on to be a visiting assistant research microbiologist in the Department of Plant and Soil Biology at the University of California, Berkeley from 1983 – 1985 before joining the faculty at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. He is a member of the Deep Life Scientific Steering Committee for the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO).