Ariel Anbar (Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration) Dr. Anbar, the Principal Investigator of ASU's NASA Astrobiology Institute team, is a biogeochemist interested in the past and future evolution of the Earth as a habitable planet and how this knowledge informs the search for inhabited worlds beyond Earth. His current research focuses on the chemical evolution of the environment, especially changes in ocean oxygenation through time, and its consequences for life.
Audrey Bouvier (Research Associate, Department of Earth Sciences - University of Minnesota) Dr. Bouvier is interested in unraveling the chronology of planetary processes that took place during the first few million years of Solar System history such as the formation of the first condensates in the solar nebula, and the accretion and evolution of planetesimals. Her studies are based on short- (26Al-26Mg) and long-lived (207Pb-206Pb) chronologies of refractory inclusions and chondrules from primitive chondrites, and minerals from differentiated meteorites.
Peter Buseck (Regents Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration) Dr. Buseck's research includes solid state geochemistry/mineralogy - the study of crystal defects in minerals at the atomic level using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, geochemistry/cosmochemistry - the origin and character of carbonaceous chondrite meteorites and interplanetary (interstellar?) dust particles, and analytical and environmental geochemistry - the development and application of electron-beam instruments to the analysis of small particles, with emphasis on problems of atmospheric geochemistry and air pollution.
Phil Christensen (Regents Professor and Korrick Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration) Dr. Christensen’s research interests include studying the geologic history and evolution of Earth and Mars. He led the team responsible for the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument on board the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, and is leading the operation of the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), which is on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft currently orbiting Mars. Dr. Christensen's Mars Space Flight Facility at ASU directly controls THEMIS. A third instrument, Mini-TES, is on board the two Mars Exploration Rovers, Opportunity and Spirit, that landed in January 2004 and are still operating.
Steve Desch (Associate Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration) Dr. Desch studies star and planet formation by combining astrophysical models and numerical simulations with meteoritic data.
Richard Hervig (Professor, School of Earth & Space Exploration). Dr. Hervig uses the chemistry of Earth and extraterrestrial materials to determine their origin and evolution. These materials include samples from volcanic eruptions, igneous intrusions, low to medium temperature metamorphic rocks, sediments, and the solid run products from experiments. The primary tool used to explore these samples is the secondary ion mass spectrometer (SIMS, or ion microprobe). SIMS is a microanalytical technique with applications to geochemistry, cosmochemistry, and materials science.
Michelle Minitti (Faculty Research Associate, School of Earth & Space Exploration) Dr. Minitti utilizes tailor-made laboratory analogs and terrestrial analogs of Martian materials to pursue experimental and analytical investigations aimed at understanding the Martian meteorites and their context in Mars remote sensing datasets. She is particularly interested in the role of water in igneous and weathering processes. Dr. Minitti is also a Co-Investigator on the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera slated to investigate Mars as a part of the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory mission.
Sandra Pizzarello (Research Professor, Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry) Dr. Pizzarello's research focuses on the study of organic components of carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, and has lead to the recognition, molecular identification, and isotopic characterization of their main extractable organic constituents. Her work involves the analyses of several meteorites of the three chondrites subgroups and the development of new analytical methods. The finding of L-enantiomeric excesses in some meteoritic amino acids has suggested a possible link between chemical evolution and planetary homochirality, leading to the current investigation of the possible source of their asymmetry as well as of model syntheses that would mimic their prebiotic catalytic activity and reactions.
Tom Sharp (Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration) Dr. Sharp's current research areas include: the effect of water on high pressure phase transitions and deformation, high-pressure partitioning of highly siderophile elements and core formation, shock metamorphism and impacts on planetary bodies, chemical weathering on Mars and the structure and distribution of carbon in Earth's earliest microfossils.
Everett Shock (Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration and Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry) Dr. Shock and members of his research group divide their time among building algorithms to estimate thermodynamic data; analyzing water, sediment, rock and biological samples; integrating analytical and thermodynamic data in models of geochemical and microbial processes; and testing ideas about the transport of water and solutes through the environment, the biogeochemical processes of the subsurface biosphere, and the potential for life on other planets.
Wendy Taylor (Assistant Director, Robert S. Dietz Museum of Geology, School of Earth and Space Exploration) Dr. Taylor curates the R. S. Dietz Museum of Geology, where she develops new exhibits, presents student and teacher programs, and develops Standards-aligned science curricula. She also serves as the Education and Public Outreach Lead for ASU's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) and NASA Astrobiology Institute, Follow the Elements Projects.
Mikhail Zolotov (Associate Research Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration) Dr. Zolotov uses physical-chemical modeling to explore behavior of volatiles, mineralogical transformations and redox processes in aqueously processed parent bodies of chondrites, in the solar nebula, icy satellites, and in lithospheres of Mars and Venus.
