Drew Gorman-Lewis is a geochemist who studies how chemicals from natural and anthropogenic processes, like mining and nuclear energy, behave in the environment. To have a better understanding of how these chemicals can affect everything from water quality to microbial communities, he takes an interdisciplinary approach, incorporating methods from microbiology, physical chemistry, and thermodynamic modeling. Organisms that make their livings in extreme environments also fascinate him, and he looks at the physiological characteristics that make such a life possible.