Kenichiro Sugitani is Professor in the Graduate School of Environmental Studies at Nagoya University, Chikusa, Nagoya. He has published over 70 scientific papers and received the 1995 Geochemical Society of Japan encouragement award for contributions to understanding of geochemistry and origin of ancient siliceous sediments including Archean cherts. He has undertaken fieldwork in the Pilbara Craton and mapped the Goldsworthy greenstone belt, and discovered microfossils from the 3.0 Ga Farrel Quartzite. He is an associate member of Australian Centre for Astrobiology at the University of New South Wales, and serves as regional editor of Astrobiology and a member of editorial advisory board of Geobiology.