University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo in the context of "Public college"

The Planetary Habitability Laboratory (PHL) is a research remote laboratory intended to study the habitability of the Solar System and other stellar systems, specifically, potentially habitable exoplanets. The PHL is managed by the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo with the collaboration of international scientists from different organizations including the SETI Institute and NASA. The Laboratory is directed by astrobiologist Professor Abel Méndez. PHL is especially known for its Habitable Exoplanets Catalog, one of the most comprehensive catalogs on exoplanetary habitability.

Professor Abel Méndez is a planetary astrobiologist and Director, at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo. His research focuses on the habitability of potentially habitable exoplanets. Méndez is also a NASA MIRS Fellow with research experience at NASA, and the Arecibo Observatory.

He is best known for being one of the scientists who developed the Earth Similarity Index, a proposed characterization of how similar a planetary-mass object or natural satellite is to Earth.