TED (standing for Technology, Entertainment, Design) promotes 'ideas worth spreading' and has become a focal point for the TEDTalks, which have been viewed by one billion people worldwide.
Dr Preston, a post-doctoral research associate in the OU's Department of Physical Sciences, is one of only 20 academics worldwide chosen to become a TED Fellow in 2013.
She has been selected not only for the quality of her research, but for her passion for science and for communicating it.
Dr Preston trained as a geologist and her work involves studying environments on Earth that can give us clues to environments on Mars.
She has helped to test simulated 'mars rovers' and 'astronauts' in Spain and Antarctica, and studied how life thrives in boiling hot springs in New Zealand and Iceland.
"Although the Earth and Mars may look very different, there are actually many similarities,' she says.
"Looking at these places teaches us about the possibilities of life in similar environments and geological settings on Mars, what this life might look like and what tools and technologies we might need to find it."
As a TED Fellow, Dr Preston will participate in the TED Conference in Long Beach, California next year, which is attended by more than one thousand people and covers science, business, the arts and key issues facing our world.
