The UI Explorers Lecture Series will begin at 7 p.m. today at the UI Museum of Natural History’s Biosphere Discovery Hub. This is the beginning of an annual lecture series put on by the museum, which will have lectures once a month until at least the end of the fall semester.

The first speaker will be Ingrid Ukstins Peate, a UI assistant professor of geoscience, who will speak on “Life in extreme environments: Studying volcanic lakes in Chile to better understand early Mars.”

The lecture will cover the understanding garnered through Peate’s and NASA’s collaborations in research of locations on Earth to better comprehend the environmental history of Mars.

The focus of Peate’s lecture will be on her research in studying various lakes of the Andes Mountains in Chile. The location is distinctive compared with others because of its temperature changes, high levels of ultraviolet radiation, and environment.

Researchers involved in this project investigated the different aspects of science in the area to understand past environmental conditions when life may have developed.

“This is a unique topic … in the series,” said Sarah Horgen, a project assistant at the museum.

The Biosphere Discovery Hub is a space that highlights environmental and cultural research at the UI. The gallery has a dual purpose for the university: Not only does it act as a space for exhibitions, it is a working classroom equipped with teaching tools.

A lot of research occurs at the UI that people don’t know about, Horgen said. Many of the lectures, since the beginning of the series in 2007, have involved UI faculty and students from various areas presenting their research to the public. This specifically gives graduate students experience in exhibiting material from their research in an intimate setting.

The primary focus in the past lecture series has been culture and animals. This year, the series will give a chance for people with different interests to visit the museum, Horgen said.

“With the museum being a public venue, we could be that window for people to learn about what’s going on [in the UI],” she said.