Committee: Planetary Protection Standards for Icy Bodies in the Outer Solar System

Committee Membership Information


Project Title:	Planetary Protection Standards for Icy Bodies in the Outer Solar System
PIN:	DEPS-SSB-10-08
Major Unit:	Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences
Sub Unit:	DEPS Space Studies Board
RSO:	Smith, David
Subject/Focus Area:	Biology and Life Sciences; Space and Aeronautics

Committee Membership

Date Posted: 04/08/2011

Mr. Joseph R. Fragola
Valador, Inc.

JOSEPH R. FRAGOLA is vice president of Valador, Inc., a small information architecture consulting firm. Mr. Fragola has more than 35 years of experience working in reliability and risk technology in both the aerospace and nuclear industries. He is a professional engineer and received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics from the Polytechnic Institute of New York. In the past he has worked for Grumman Aerospace Corporation and for IEEE at their headquarters in New York. He was recently a principal scientist at SAIC and continues to be a visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. He has published nearly 50 papers and two books. He was awarded the P.K. McElroy RAMS Best Paper Award in 1993, the Alan Plait Award for the Best Tutorial in 2004, and the IEEE Region I Award and has been named an IEEE fellow for his contributions to the theory and practice of risk, safety, and reliability.

Mr. Douglas S. Stetson
Space Science and Exploration Consulting Group

Doug S. Stetson is a consultant, specializing in innovative mission and system concepts, strategic planning, decision analysis, proposal development, and university and industry partnerships. He is the founder and president of the Space Science and Exploration Consulting Group, a network of senior advisors and experienced individuals drawn from NASA, national laboratories, industry, and universities. Prior to becoming a consultant, Stetson spent 25 years at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in a variety of technical and management positions, including several assignments at NASA Headquarters. At JPL he was most recently the manager of the Solar System Mission Formulation Office, responsible for development of all new planetary mission and technology strategies and programs. Earlier in his career, he played key roles in the design and development of several major planetary missions, including Cassini and Galileo, and was the leader of many planetary advanced studies and proposals. He is currently serving on the Inner Planets Panel for the NRC Planetary Science Decadal Survey.

Dr. Mitchell L. Sogin - (Chair)
Marine Biological Laboratory

MITCHELL L. SOGIN is a senior scientist and director of the Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, MA. He also is a professor in the Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry for the Brown University – MBL Graduate Program in Biological and Environmental Sciences. Prior to joining MBL in 1989, he was on the faculty of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. His current research focuses on molecular evolution of protists, microbial diversity in extreme environments, and microbial oceanography. He is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the AAAS, and he currently serves on the editorial boards of four scientific journals. He received his Ph.D. in microbiology and molecular biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His past NRC service includes membership on the Space Studies Board, Committee on the Limits of Organic Life in Planetary Systems, Committee on Preventing the Forward Contamination of Mars, Committee on a New Science Strategy for Solar System Exploration, Steering Group for the Workshop on Size Limits of Very Small Microorganisms, and Task Group on Sample Return from Small Solar System Bodies.

Dr. Geoffrey Collins - (Vice Chair)
Wheaton College

GEOFFREY COLLINS is associate professor of geology at Wheaton College. He joined the faculty at Wheaton College in 2000 after receiving his PhD in geological science from Brown University. He is a planetary scientist who is interested in geological processes on the icy satellites of the outer solar system, including Ganymede and Europa at Jupiter and Enceladus, Dione, and Titan at Saturn.

Ms. Amy Baker
Technical Administrative Services

AMY BAKER is the owner of Technical Administrative Services (TAS), a technically based service organization that provides technical and administrative support focusing specifically on the needs of the international scientific community. Over the past 6 years under TAS auspices she has participated in research for new biological methods for inclusion in NASA’s planetary protection procedures. As senior engineer with Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Ms. Baker worked as the Technical Lead for the Planetary Protection Laboratory for the Mars Surveyor Program and the Chemical Technology Laboratory. During her tenure with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory she served as the Deputy Director for the Hydrogen Research Program for the Department of Energy. Ms. Baker was also the Secretariat to the International Energy Agency Executive Committee on Hydrogen Research. She was a member of the NRC Committee on Principles of Environmental and Scientific Stewardship for the Exploration and Study of Subglacial Lake Environments.

Dr. John A. Baross
University of Washington

JOHN A. BAROSS is professor of Biological Oceanography and director of the Astrobiology Program at the University of Washington, Seattle. He is an expert on thermophilic microorganisms from volcanic environments, the origin and evolution of life and life on other planets and moons, and microbial ecology of the Columbia River estuary. He received his Ph.D. for marine microbiology from the University of Washington. His NRC service includes chairing the Committee on the Limits of Organic Life in Planetary Systems, co-chairing the Committee for a Review of Programs to Determine the Extent of Life in the Universe, and membership on the Committee on the Origins and Evolution of Life, Steering Group for the Workshop on Size Limits of Very Small Microorganisms, Task Group on Sample Return from Small Solar System Bodies, and Ad Hoc Task Group on Planetary Protection.

Dr. Amy C. Barr
Southwest Research Institute

AMY C. BARR is a principal scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, CO. Her research interests are in planetary mantle convection with emphasis on icy satellites, planetary impacts, ice physics, and nonlinear fluid dynamics. After completing her PhD at the University of Colorado in 2004, she held a post-doctoral position at Washington University, St. Louis, and then joined SwRI in 2006. She has been a PI in the NASA Cassini data analysis program, outer planets research program, and planetary geology and geophysics program. Her current research interests are in accretion and early thermal evolution of planetary satellites; planetary impacts; heat transfer in solid planets; evolution of grain size and crystal fabric in ice; and the relationship between solid-state convection and resurfacing on icy bodies. Dr. Barr is a graduate of the California Institute of Technology where she completed a B.S. in Planetary Science. In 2007 Dr. Barr received a NASA early career fellowship.

Dr. William V. Boynton
University of Arizona

WILLIAM V. BOYNTON is a professor in the Department of Planetary Sciences at the University of Arizona. His research interests include mineralogic and trace element studies of meteorites and impact events, internal stratigraphy and provenance of Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary sediments, remote-sensing via gamma-ray spectrometry, instrumentation for chemical analysis of planetary surfaces, and Mars surface chemistry. He has been extensively involved in Mars missions since 1984. His gamma ray spectrometer first flew on the ill-fated Mars Observer spacecraft in the early 1990s before being successfully deployed by Mars Odyssey in 2002. He is the principal investigator of the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analysis instrument, which studied the chemical properties of martian surface materials on the Mars Phoenix spacecraft. His extensive NRC service includes membership on the Committee on the Review of Planetary Protection Requirements for Mars Sample-Return Missions, Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration, Committee on the Assessment of Solar System Exploration, and Committee on Assessment of Mars Science and Mission Priorities.

Dr. Charles S. Cockell
Open University

CHARLES S. COCKELL is professor and chair of geomicrobiology in the Center for Earth, Planetary, Space, and Astronomical Research (CEPSAR), at the Open University in the United Kingdom. His research focuses on microbe-mineral interactions and the way in which microorganisms colonize and live in rocky environments in the solar system. His committee service has included membership on the ESA Life Sciences Working Group, the ESA Planetary Protection Working Group, the ESA Science and Technology Advisory Group, and the NASA Mars Human Precursor Science Steering Group. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, the Explorers Club of New York, the British Interplanetary Society, and the Royal Astronomical Society. Cockell is the author of two popular science books and co-editor of four scientific books. In 1994 he founded the Earth and Space Foundation, a charity which awards grants to expeditions that successfully bridge the gap between environmentalism and the exploration and settlement of space by either using space technologies and ideas in environmental fieldwork or using environments on Earth to advance knowledge of other planets. He received his Ph. D. in Molecular biophysics from the University of Oxford.

Dr. Michael J. Daly
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

MICHAEL J. DALY is a member of the faculty in the pathology department at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He is an expert in the study of bacteria belonging to the family Deinococcaceae, which are some of the most radiation-resistant organisms yet discovered. His NRC service includes membership on the Committee on Planetary Protection Requirements for Venus Missions, Committee on the Origins and Evolution of Life, Committee on the Astrophysical Context of Life, and Task Group on the Forward Contamination of Europa.

Dr. Rosaly M. Lopes
Jet Propulsion Laboratory

ROSALY LOPES is a group supervisor and senior research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her research interests focus on use of remote sensing data collected from spacecraft to further develop theoretical models of surface processes, including analysis of Io’s infrared spectra obtained by Galileo’s Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer and analysis of geologic features on Titan using the Cassini Radar Mapper, with particular emphasis on cryovolcanic features. Recognitions for her work include Wings WorldQuest: Women of Discovery Award, Fellow of the AAAS, Carl Sagan Medal from the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences, and Latinas in Science Award from the Comision Feminil Mexicana Nacional. She is the author or co-author of five books. She served as a member of the NRC Committee on New Opportunities in Solar System Exploration.

Dr. Kenneth H. Nealson
University of Southern California

KENNETH H. NEALSON is the Wrigley Professor of Geobiology at the University of Southern California. His research interests focus on environmental microbiology and biogeochemistry. Dr. Nealson previously served as a senior scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and as a professor at the Center for Great Lakes Studies of the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, recipient of the Distinguished Visiting Researcher Award from the Joint Oceanographic Institution, and recipient of the Cecil and Ida Green Visiting Professorship at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. In addition, he received the 2003 Proctor and Gamble Award in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. He received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Chicago. Dr. Nealson has served on the NRC’s Space Studies Board, the Task Group on Issues in Sample Return, the Ad Hoc Task Group on Planetary Protection, the Committee on Planetary Biology and Chemical Evolution, and the Committee on the Origins and Evolution of Life.

Dr. Mark H. Thiemens
University of California, San Diego

MARK H. THIEMENS (NAS) is Dean of Physical Sciences, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, and Chancellor’s Associates Chair in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego. His research is centered on use of the mass independent fractionation process for stable isotopes to study the origin and evolution of the solar system, definition of the source and transformation of greenhouse gases in the troposphere, chemistry of the stratosphere and mesosphere, chemistry of the ancient Martian atmosphere, and the origin and evolution of oxygen-ozone and life in the Earth’s Precambrian. His extensive NRC service includes membership on the Board on Energy and Environmental Systems, PNAS Editorial Board, and Committee on the Review of Planetary Protection Requirements for Mars Sample-Return Missions.

Committee Membership Roster Comments

Note (04-08-2011): Joseph Saleh was provisionally appointed to the committee in September 2010 but declined to serve. Joseph Fragola was appointed to the committee in December 2010. Amy Barr was appointed to the committee in January 2011. A review today of the committee roster as posted above revealed that it did not include the bio-sketch of Douglas Stetson, who was appointed to the committee in September 2010. It is not clear why this bio-sketch is missing. But we have included it as of today.