The International Geobiology Course is an intense, multidisciplinary summer course that explores the co-evolution of the Earth and it’s biosphere, with an emphasis on how microbial processes affect the environment and leave imprints in the rock record. Participants get a hands-on learning experience in cutting-edge geobiological techniques including molecular biology, microbiology, geochemistry, and sedimentology and work in research groups to solve real research questions. This year the course will be directed by Alex Sessions, Woody Fischer, and Victoria Orphan, and will remain in a format similar to previous years. It begins with a field trip up the eastern Sierra Nevada to visit hot springs, Cambrian rocks, and Mono Lake, and back down to the coast near Ventura to study sulfur springs and tar seeps, and a world-famous exposure of the Monterey Formation. Two weeks of lab rotations at Caltech will introduce students to cutting-edge analytical techniques, followed by two weeks at the Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island. The 2018 course is open to graduate students and postdocs at any level. For postdocs, preference will be given to those who earned PhD’s in other fields, and are seeking to enter the field of geobiology. The cost of the course is US $4000; financial aid is available for those with demonstrated need. Application deadline: February 9, 2018.