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Strategic Investments in Instrumentation and Facilities for Extraterrestrial Sample Curation and Analysis (2019)

Chapter: Appendix E: Committee Members and Staff Biographical Information

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Committee Members and Staff Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Strategic Investments in Instrumentation and Facilities for Extraterrestrial Sample Curation and Analysis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25312.
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E

Committee Members and Staff Biographical Information

ROBERTA L. RUDNICK is a professor of geology at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), in the Department of Earth Science. Previously, Dr. Rudnick was on the faculty of the University of Maryland in the Department of Geology, where she was a Distinguished University Professor, and at Harvard University in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. At UCSB, Dr. Rudnick uses geochemical and geophysical data to understand the origin and evolution of the continents, including the continental lithospheric mantle. She is a recipient of the Dana Medal from the Mineralogical Society of America, the Bowen Award from the Volcanology, Geochemistry, and Petrology division of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the Hess Medal from the AGU. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), and a foreign associate of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dr. Rudnick received her Ph.D. in geochemistry from the Australian National University. She previously served on the Committee on Grand Research Questions in Earth Science of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

GEORGE D. CODY is a senior scientist of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Dr. Cody’s research interests include the chemical history of the early solar system as recorded in the molecular structure of extraterrestrial organic matter from chondritic meteorites, interplanetary dust particles, and comets. He also studies biochemistry of ancient organic fossils. Dr. Cody is the principal investigator for the W.M. Keck Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility and the Molecular Organic Analysis Laboratory at the Geophysical Laboratory. Dr. Cody recently served as acting director for the Geophysical Laboratory for 5 years and currently is a member of the working group for the World Premier International Research Center Initiative, Earth Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology. Dr. Cody earned his Ph.D. in geosciences from Pennsylvania State University. He previously served on the National Academies Committee on the Limits of Organic Life in Planetary Sciences and the Committee on Exploring Organic Environments in the Solar System.

JAMES H. CROCKER is vice president and general manager, retired, of Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. The focus of Mr. Crocker’s career has been the design, construction, and management of very large, complex systems and instruments for astrophysics and space exploration both in the United States and internationally. These include space missions both human and robotic such as Apollo 17, Skylab, and Orion; missions to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, asteroids, the Moon, and comets; and the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the

Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Committee Members and Staff Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Strategic Investments in Instrumentation and Facilities for Extraterrestrial Sample Curation and Analysis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25312.
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James Webb Space Telescope. In ground-based astronomy, he was program manager for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and head of the Program Office for the European VLT, an array of optically phased 8-meter telescopes in the Atacama Desert in Chile. He serves on the board of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and as a past member of the Universities Space Research Association. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Mr. Crocker earned an M.S. in management from Johns Hopkins University and an M.S. in engineering from the University of Alabama, Huntsville.

VINAYAK P. DRAVID is the Abraham Harris Chaired Professor and the founding director of the NUANCE Center at Northwestern University. The NUANCE Center is a major instrumentation and characterization facility. Dr. Dravid also serves as the director of SHyNE (Soft- and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental) Resource, an NSF-NNCI center of excellence in facility infrastructure program. Dr. Dravid’s scholarly interests revolve around statics and dynamics of “microstructure”; at the intersection of materials science with physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering. He is an expert on characterization and analysis of materials, structures, and systems by diverse tools/techniques such as radiation sources (electron, ion, and light/photon microscopy/analysis), scanned probe microscopy (SPM), and correlative multimodal techniques. In the recent decade, he has expanded his characterization expertise to soft, hybrid (soft-hard), dynamic phenomena under external stimuli and noninvasive characterization based on ultrasound holography, MRI contrast enhancement, and related techniques. Dr. Dravid is a recipient of several awards and honors, including IBM and National Science Foundation (NSF) Young Career awards, the Burton Medal of the Microscopy Society of America (MSA), and Coble and Fulrath Awards from the American Ceramic Society (ACerS). He is an elected fellow of numerous professional societies, including MSA (inauguration class), Materials Research Society (MRS), American Physical Society, ACerS, and AAAS, among others. Dr. Dravid is an honorary lifetime member of MRS India, and the Hsuen Lee Fellow of the Chinese Academy of Science. He earned his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Lehigh University.

JOHN M. EILER is the Robert P. Sharp Professor of Geology and Geochemistry at the California Institute of Technology and director of the Caltech Microanalysis Center. Dr. Eiler’s research interests include the isotope geochemistry of light elements (H, C, N, O and S) as applied to the origin and evolution of igneous rocks, the origin and evolution of meteorites, planetary atmospheres, atmospheric and environmental chemistry, paleoclimate, and paleontology. Dr. Eiler is a recipient of the James B. Macelwane Medal of the AGU and the Day Medal of the Geological Society of America, and he is a member of the NAS. He earned his Ph.D. in geology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

ABBY KAVNER is a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, in the Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences. Dr. Kavner’s research interests encompass the behavior of Earth and planetary materials under extreme physical and chemical conditions—especially at high pressures and temperatures—to better understand whole-planet thermal and chemical evolution. Dr. Kavner is chair of the executive committee of COMPRES, the Consortium for Materials Physics Research in the Earth Sciences. COMPRES is an NSF-funded consortium to help cultivate and support shared user facilities and infrastructure for mineral physics. She is a fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America and serves on the board of reviewing editors for Science magazine. Dr. Kavner earned her Ph.D. in geophysics from the University of California, Berkeley.

TIMOTHY J. McCOY is a supervisory research geologist at the Smithsonian Institution in the National Museum of Natural History. Dr. McCoy also serves as curator-in-charge of the U.S. National Meteorite Collection. Dr. McCoy uses petrography of meteorites and experimental petrology to understand how asteroids differentiated in the early history of the solar system. He has been extensively involved in spacecraft missions, including as a participating scientist on NEAR, MER, MESSENGER, and Dawn at Vesta and as a co-investigator on OSIRIS-REx and Psyche. He is a recipient of the Nier Prize from the Meteoritical Society. Dr. McCoy earned his Ph.D. from the University of Hawai’i, Manoa. He served as a member of the National Academies Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration, the Planetary Science Decadal Survey: Primitive Bodies Panel, and the Committee on New Opportunities in Solar System Exploration.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Committee Members and Staff Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Strategic Investments in Instrumentation and Facilities for Extraterrestrial Sample Curation and Analysis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25312.
×

CLIVE R. NEAL is a professor of planetary geology at the University of Notre Dame in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences. Dr. Neal was instrumental in developing the Lunar Exploration Roadmap at the request of the NASA Advisory Council during the Vision for Space Exploration Program. He has published over 100 papers in scientific journals and has been involved in many NASA and NSF review panels. Dr. Neal currently chairs the NASA Lunar Exploration Analysis Group. He previously chaired the NASA Senior Review of Planetary Science Missions, as well as the Mars 2020 Instrument Review Panel. Dr. Neal received the Michael J. Wargo Award for the Integration of Exploration and Planetary Science from the NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute. He earned his Ph.D. in mantle petrology and geochemistry from the University of Leeds, U.K.

FRANK M. RICHTER1 is the Sewell L. Avery Distinguished Service Professor, Emeritus at the University of Chicago in the Department of the Geophysical Sciences. He has served in various positions at the University of Chicago, including professor and chair of the Department of the Geophysical Sciences. Dr. Richter’s research interest includes the determination of the degree of kinetic isotope fractionation associated with mass transport processes within a phase or between phases, as in the case of mass transfer from a condensed phase to a gas. Dr. Richter was a fellow and an Arthur L. Day Medal recipient at the Geological Society of America. He received the Norman L. Bowen Award from the AGU and is a member of the NAS. He earned his Ph.D. in geophysics from the University of Chicago. Dr. Richter has served on many National Academies’ committees, including the Committee to Review NASA’s Solid Earth Science Strategy, the Board on International Scientific Organizations. He has also served as Section Liaison for NAS Section 15: Geology.

HANIKA RIZO is assistant professor of geochemistry at Carleton University, Canada, in the Department of Earth Sciences. Dr. Rizo is also the director of the Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Center. Previously, Dr. Rizo was a postdoctoral fellow at the Carnegie Institution for Science and the University of Maryland. At Carleton University, she leads research in radiogenic isotope geochemistry that could shed light on the structure and dynamics of the young Earth. Dr. Rizo is an expert in the study of short-lived radiogenic isotope systems in terrestrial rocks. Her research interests include mass spectrometry analytical developments that allow isotopic measurements with ultra-high precision, and the geologic events that affected Earth during its earliest stages of development, such as the segregation of its core and the crystallization of the magma ocean. She is the 2018 recipient of the Early Research Award from the Ontario government, and results from her research were selected as one of the Top 10 discoveries of the year 2016 of Quebec Science magazine. Dr. Rizo earned her Ph.D. in isotope geochemistry from the Université Blaise Pascal, France, where she was recipient of the Outstanding Young Scientist Award 2013 for her Ph.D.

KIMBERLY T. TAIT is the Teck Chair of Mineralogy at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) where she is also curator of mineralogy. Dr. Tait is also associate professor at the University of Toronto. At ROM, Dr. Tait leads a group of students, postdoctorates, and researchers in mineralogical research in planetary materials, and oversees the meteorite, mineral, gem, and rock collections at the museum. Her research interests include how planets formed and evolved throughout time, and she focuses on mineralogy and geochemical techniques to describe these processes. She characterizes new meteorites, including detailed descriptions of groups of meteorites, to understand planetary formation processes using diffraction and spectroscopy methods. She is a collaborating scientist on the Canadian science team for OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA) on OSIRIS-REx. She was the recipient of the Mineralogical Association of Canada Young Mineralogist Award. She has served as a councilor for the Mineralogical Association of Canada and the Mineralogical Society of America. She earned her Ph.D. in geosciences from the University of Arizona.

___________________

1 Resigned from the committee on April 13, 2018.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Committee Members and Staff Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Strategic Investments in Instrumentation and Facilities for Extraterrestrial Sample Curation and Analysis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25312.
×

STAFF

ABIGAIL A. SHEFFER, Study Director, is a senior program officer with the Space Studies Board (SSB) of the National Academies. In fall 2009, Dr. Sheffer served as a Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellow for the National Academies and then joined the SSB. Since coming to the National Academies, she has been the staff officer and study director on a variety of activities such as the Committee on Solar and Space Physics, Assessment of the National Science Foundation’s 2015 Geospace Portfolio Review, Achieving Science with CubeSats: Thinking Inside the Box, Landsat and Beyond—Sustaining and Enhancing the Nation’s Land Imaging Program, among others. Dr. Sheffer has been an assisting staff officer on several other reports, including Pathways to Exploration—Rationales and Approaches for a U.S. Program of Human Space Exploration and Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society. Dr. Sheffer earned her Ph.D. in planetary science from the University of Arizona and A.B. in geosciences from Princeton University.

SARAH C. BROTHERS is an associate program officer with the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board and the SSB of the National Academies. In this role, she manages federal advisory committees providing policy advice on diverse topics ranging from civil space research, to space system technical requirements, to innovation in government agencies and regulation reform based upon technological advances and scientific research. She is responsible for producing consensus study reports based upon committee contributions and for first-author publication of other products, such as workshop proceedings. Previously, Dr. Brothers worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Texas A&M University, where she conducted change analysis using synthetic aperture radar and images of Earth’s surface, and as an intern with BHP Billiton and Hess Corporation in petroleum exploration and production. She completed her doctoral research in geology, processing and analyzing ground- and orbital-based ground-penetrating radar data in geospatial environments with time-lapse surface imagery and topography. She holds a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Texas, Austin, and a B.A. in geology from Bryn Mawr College.

ANESIA WILKS is a senior program assistant. Ms. Wilks began working at the National Academies in the conference management office and later transferred to the Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences, where she began working on administrative roles for different projects. She is currently working on the Aeronautics Research and Technology Roundtable and the Space Technology Industry-Government-University Roundtable, among various other projects. Ms. Wilks has a B.A. in psychology (magna cum laude) from Trinity University in Washington, D.C.

CARSON BULLOCK is an undergraduate student in their final year at the College of Wooster. They will receive a B.A. in physics and political science in 2019. Mx. Bullock enjoyed their time as a Lloyd V. Berkner Space Policy Intern during the summer of 2018, a position whose interdisciplinary nature represented a perfect intersection of their interests. Mx. Bollock studies collective action problems and commons management, with an emphasis on the proliferation and mitigation of orbital debris. Outside their major fields of study, Mx. Bullock’s broader academic experience includes mathematics, cartography, phonology, and gender.

JONATHAN LUTZ is in his senior year at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) in the astrophysics program and worked as a student associate at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. Mr. Lutz was the Lloyd V. Berkner Space Policy Intern at the National Academies in fall 2018. He was a member of a student-led BalloonSat research team that launched a scintillator gamma-ray detector on a small payload to the stratosphere. Previously, he worked as a freelance graphic designer and has a background in data science. Mr. Lutz is on the dean’s list at CU Boulder.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Committee Members and Staff Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Strategic Investments in Instrumentation and Facilities for Extraterrestrial Sample Curation and Analysis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25312.
×
Page 117
Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Committee Members and Staff Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Strategic Investments in Instrumentation and Facilities for Extraterrestrial Sample Curation and Analysis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25312.
×
Page 118
Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Committee Members and Staff Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Strategic Investments in Instrumentation and Facilities for Extraterrestrial Sample Curation and Analysis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25312.
×
Page 119
Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Committee Members and Staff Biographical Information." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Strategic Investments in Instrumentation and Facilities for Extraterrestrial Sample Curation and Analysis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25312.
×
Page 120
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The United States possesses a treasure-trove of extraterrestrial samples that were returned to Earth via space missions over the past four decades. Analyses of these previously returned samples have led to major breakthroughs in the understanding of the age, composition, and origin of the solar system. Having the instrumentation, facilities and qualified personnel to undertake analyses of returned samples, especially from missions that take up to a decade or longer from launch to return, is thus of paramount importance if the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is to capitalize fully on the investment made in these missions, and to achieve the full scientific impact afforded by these extraordinary samples. Planetary science may be entering a new golden era of extraterrestrial sample return; now is the time to assess how prepared the scientific community is to take advantage of these opportunities.

Strategic Investments in Instrumentation and Facilities for Extraterrestrial Sample Curation and Analysis assesses the current capabilities within the planetary science community for sample return analyses and curation, and what capabilities are currently missing that will be needed for future sample return missions. This report evaluates whether current laboratory support infrastructure and NASA's investment strategy is adequate to meet these analytical challenges and advises how the community can keep abreast of evolving and new techniques in order to stay at the forefront of extraterrestrial sample analysis.

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