Senior Nick McFarlin is majoring in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with a minor in Astrobiology. He is interested in unanswered questions like "How did life originate on Earth?" and "Is there life elsewhere?" After graduation, Nick plans to become a researcher with the possibility of attending graduate school in a biology related field and perhaps someday working at NASA.

Nick's favorite astrobiology class was GEOS 484, Coevolution of the Earth and Biosphere. It was unique for being a small, interdisciplinary class that had students read research papers that dealt with nearly every type of science; in that way, it felt to Nick more like a graduate course. And, says Nick, "There were also three field trips that were really cool." Nick is currently involved with a vertically integrated project mostly associated with the Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences. The project is working to determine whether a model developed in the 1980s for the timing of flowering of Sonoran desert plants is still a valid one; depending on results, project researchers will question whether changes can attributed to climate change.

In his spare time, Nick sings and plays the drums and eventually would like to produce his own music. He also enjoys trivia and MarioKart!