Alessandra Ricca

Alessandra Ricca is a computational chemist whose research focuses primarily on theoretical chemistry. She researches modeling properties of organic compounds in the gas and ice phases, emphasizing the formation, reactivity, spectroscopy, and optical properties of the researched compounds. In Astrophysics and Analysis at NASA, Ricca studies PAH infrared spectroscopy and nanograins in the interstellar medium. She loads data into the NASA Ames PAH IR Spectroscopic Database (PAHdb), which helps interpret JWST data. In NASA Solar System Workings, Ricca studies ammonia hydrates on Charon and other icy bodies, in which she interprets data collected by the Cassini mission, which detected small, large, and macromolecular organics near the Enceladus plume. The goal of this project is to determine if these substances were derived from life or abiotic processes. In addition to her work at NASA, Ricca is a Senior Research Chemist at the SETI Institute. Provided by Wikipedia