Jerod Aguilar

Ph.D. student, Department of Earth Sciences

Research Interests:
Jerod’s research examines how life arose on primitive Earth from important organic compounds, created abiotically, and their self-assembly into chemical ecosystems that we now define as life.

Road to the Moody School:
Born and raised in Eugene, Oregon, Jerod has had two profound interests since childhood: Earth, and the life it holds. Jerod earned his B.S. in earth science from the University of Oregon in 2018. He returned to his alma mater for post-baccalaureate studies in chemistry and conducted research on the preservation of organic carbon in volcanically buried paleosols. As the first member in his family to receive a bachelor’s degree, Jerod is now pursuing his Ph.D. in geology to investigate the origins of life. In
his free time, Jerod can be found bouldering, hiking, camping, foraging for mushrooms or rockhounding.