5th annual Susan Niebur networking event at LPSC!

We’re pleased to announce the 5th annual Susan Niebur Women in Planetary Science networking event at LPSC!

When: Wednesday, March 20th, 2013, 5:00 – 6:00 pm

Where: Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel (conference hotel)in one of the LPSC Session Rooms [TBD]

Program:

5:00-5:10 Updates, Introductions

5:10-6:00 Panel Discussion: Alternative careers in Planetary Science

6:00 break into small groups as desired for dinner off-site

Questions for the panel must be submitted in advance. You can submit them here in the Wblog comments or on the Facebook event page, or email them to Barbara.A.Cohen@nasa.gov. Your name will not be used in connection with the question, so please don’t be shy.

Due to time and funding constraints this year, we won’t be catering the event. We will nucleate several small groups who are interested in further discussing a topic as you break for dinner. You may attend the panel and not a dinner group, or vice versa.

As always, all are welcome regardless of gender.

Panel Discussion: Alternative Careers in Planetary Science

Not everyone who earns a degree in Planetary Scientist takes the same road to success. Many think that research universities and NASA centers are their only outcomes, but there are so many different venues where planetary scientists are thriving and making important contributions to the field. This year we’ll explore some of them, including life at a small college, at a soft-money institute, in science education and advocacy, and in science policy and administration. Please join us to learn how these amazing women got to be where they are, how they incorporate research into their careers, and how their positions enable work-life balance for them.

Panelists:

Tasha Dunn is an Assistant Professor of Geology at Illinois State University in Normal, IL. She joined the faculty of ISU in 2008, immediately after getting her PhD from the University of Tennessee. In addition to pursuing her research interests, which include metamorphism of chondrites and spectroscopy of asteroids, she currently teaches four classes a year, advises the department’s education majors, and mentors undergraduate student research.

Sarah Noble spends half her time as a research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and the other half in the Planetary Sciences Division at NASA HQ. In addition to Goddard and HQ, Dr. Noble has also done time at NASA JSC, and NASA MSFC, as well as a brief stint working for Congress.  She earned her BS in Geology from the Univ of Minnesota and her Master’s and PhD in Geological Sciences from Brown University. Her science research focuses on understanding the physical and optical properties of space weathering and her responsibilities at HQ includes running the MMAMA and NESSF research programs as well as being program scientist for the LADEE mission which launches this fall.

Melissa Lane is a Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute while living in Lititz, PA. Dr. Lane received her Bachelor’s and Ph.D. degrees in geology from Franklin and Marshall College and Arizona State University,respectively. She specializes in remote-sensing studies of Mars using the thermal infrared wavelengths of energy and is a Participating Scientist on the Mars Odyssey mission.  Her theoretical and experimental research is oriented toward understanding how crystal structure and mineral properties affect spectral shape, and identifying minerals on Mars and interpreting their geologic setting in order to understand the past and present environments on Mars and how that planet evolved.

Emily Lakdawalla is a passionate advocate for the exploration of all of the worlds of our solar system. Emily holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in geology from Amherst College and a Master of Science degree in planetary geology from Brown University.She has been writing and editing the Planetary Society Blog since 2005, reporting on space news, explaining planetary science, and sharing beautiful space photos. She appears weekly on the Society’s Planetary Radio podcast, is a contributing editor to Sky & Telescope magazine and a frequent host of Cosmoquest Google+ Hangouts. Emily can be found on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Tumblr, and wherever else she finds people who are equally passionate about space images.