Rachel Harris is an accomplished astrobiology-minded geomicrobiologist. Her research interests lie in the deep biosphere, the biogeochemical cycling of short-chain alkanes, microbial dark matter, and the biotic fringe. She holds a Ph.D. and an MA in Geosciences from Princeton University, where she also served as a Postdoctoral Research Associate. Rachel further sharpened her skills as a CNRS Intern at Centre national de la recherche scientifique - CNRS and as a NASA Astrobiology Institute Intern at NASA Ames Research Center. She also served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University.

Rachel began her academic journey with a Bachelor's degree in Biology/Biological Sciences, which she earned from Wellesley College. She was an undergraduate research scholar at the MIT NASA Astrobiology Node and worked as a Summer REU Intern at NASA Ames Research Center. Rachel also worked as a Night Assistant TA at Whitin Observatory.