Alyssa Gilbert says, “Say Yes!”
Alyssa Gilbert is a postdoctoral fellow, a recent Ph.D., and the head of a independent committee trying to develop an education and public outreach program for the nearby Elginfield Observatory, a telescope currently slated to shut down at the end of 2010.
Alyssa blogs at Apple Pie and the Universe. Two of her other most recent publications are:
Gilbert, A., P. Wiegert, E. Unda-Sanzana, O. Vaduvescu, “Spectroscopic observations of new Oort cloud comet 2006 VZ13 and four other comets.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol 401, iss 4, pages 2399–2405, February 2010.
1. When did you first become interested in space science?
Besides having a book or two about astronomy as a kid, I was a late bloomer in this respect. It wasn’t until I was in grade 12 that I got really interested in astronomy.
My high school physics teacher really liked using examples from astronomy to demonstrate the physics concepts being taught in class. At one point, we were learning about the different spectra of the elements, and he mentioned that we could look at the spectrum of a star and figure out what it’s made of. We did an assignment where we had to classify stars based on their spectra, and I was hooked!
Interestingly enough, even though I changed my research area throughout my education (see below), all of my projects involved spectroscopy at some level.
2. Did you change topics in your graduate and postdoc years?
I did! In my undergraduate degree (which was in physics), I did my fourth year thesis on laser cooling and trapping of atoms (which did involve some spectral analysis). However, I was always intrigued by X-ray astronomy, specifically black holes and neutron stars. So, for my masters I studied the well-known X-ray binary system, SS 433. I used archived RXTE (Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer) data for a spectral study of the system itself, and I used Chandra data for an imaging study of the surrounding supernova remnant, W50.
For my PhD, I felt that I wanted to “come home” in a way, and decided to go into planetary astronomy. I was really interested in how our solar system formed and evolved, so I contacted a friend of mine who was in the field. He gave me the names of a few professors in Canada who were doing this type of research, and I met with them. I ended up at The University of Western Ontario (UWO), working on a project that was mostly dedicated to the search for a new class of objects called main-belt comets. We searched for these objects using both spectroscopic and imaging techniques. I also worked on a smaller project where I took spectroscopic observations of known comets.
Now, I’m working as a post-doctoral fellow in Earth Sciences at UWO, studying risk-assessment associated with earthquakes in Canadian cities such as Victoria and Vancouver.
3. What were the challenges and benefits of changing fields?
There were definitely a few challenges with changing fields so often. One was getting used to new jargon! As an incoming PhD student with a masters degree, most people assumed that I had already been in the field for 2 years. The same thing happened with my transition to my post-doc. Jargon was abound. I had to get over my fear of “looking stupid” and ask people what they were talking about!
Another big challenge was familiarizing myself with a new research community. All of a sudden I didn’t know who were the big names in the field, what the important papers were, or even what conferences to go too. It was a steep learning curve.
On the flip side, I felt that my experience in other fields allowed me to bring a fresh, new perspective on things that others might not have thought of. Plus, even though the fields seemed different, much of the background information and analysis techniques were the same.
I also thrive on change, so I wasn’t scared or intimidated by a new field – it was exciting and challenging for me.
I may end up as a “jack-of-all-trades” and a master of none, but I think that makes me unique and I don’t believe it has hindered my career in any way.
4. How did you get involved with outreach? What programs have you worked with, and in what capacity?
While sitting at my desk at the University of Manitoba (UofM, where I received my masters degree), an officemate came up and asked me “Hey – wanna make some extra money next semester?” and I said “Sure?” Not exactly the most ideal start to my outreach involvement!
So, in January of 2004 I became the coordinator of a general science outreach program called the Let’s Talk Science Partnership Program (LTS). My officemate told me very little about it, but soon I found out that this was a national (Canadian) program with sites all across the country. My general duties were to recruit graduate student volunteers, K-12 teachers, and community groups to take part in the program. The graduate students would go into the classroom and run hands-on science activities to get children interested and excited about science. I ended up staying on as a coordinator for the program for the duration of my time at UofM, and also during my 4 years as a PhD candidate at UWO.
About a year into my PhD, a faculty member approached me about creating an astronomy outreach program. She received funding from an NSERC PromoScience grant, and thought my outreach experience with LTS made me a perfect candidate. So, I had free rein to design the program, called Exploring the Stars (ETS), from the ground up. I developed all the presentations and hands-on activities, and decided how the program would be run. I was in charge of the program for three years, and in that time it reached over 5,000 participants. Out of everything I accomplished throughout my graduate school career, this is what I am most proud of.
5. What’s next for you?
During my PhD I realized, although I liked astronomy in general, the research aspect was not for me. However, I really fell in love with teaching and outreach during my time with LTS and ETS, and this is the direction I hope to take my career.
Right now I am the head of a independent committee (i.e., not officially associated with the university) that is trying to develop an education and public outreach program for the nearby Elginfield Observatory. This telescope is slated to shut down at the end of 2010. When I first heard this in the fall of 2009, I knew I had to do something to try and “save it” – how can we let such a wonderful facility just go blind, when there is such a huge public interest in astronomy?
So, this summer we hosted two open houses to get an idea of the public interest in keeping the observatory open. Over 500 people came to the first open house, and 350 came to the second! My hope is the results from these two open houses, and my other work associated with developing an education and outreach program for the facility, will help get funding to keep the observatory open. Time will tell!
6. What advice would you give an undergraduate or graduate student interested in planetary science or science education as a career?
For a career in planetary science, my one big piece of advice is to read! Get familiar with the literature so that you know who is doing what in your field. Then, when you go to conferences, talk to those people – don’t be shy! Everyone loves talking about their own research! The more people you know, the easier it will be to move up in the research world. Connections are everything. It’s much easier to get a post-doc by asking someone you know or have collaborated with than to send out 100s of applications.
For a career in science education and/or outreach – just get out there and start doing things! If your department already has a program in place, ask how you can get involved. If it doesn’t, get something going on your own (or with a small group of people). Even if you only organize a couple events a year, it looks great on your CV. Make sure you send reports of the events to your department head as well as to the dean of your faculty so they know what you’re up too.
Also, take as many teaching workshops as you can! Many universities will have a teaching center (at UWO it’s called the Teaching Support Center) that offers such things to graduate students, post-docs, and faculty. If the website says it’s only open to faculty members, email them and ask if you can attend anyway.
Also, if you’re really interested in teaching, ask if you can teach a course. If not, ask your supervisor or other faculty members if you can guest lecture in their classes, or if you can give a talk or workshop to the department.
Lastly – say “yes”! Once you start doing outreach events, people will probably ask you to do more – say yes! The more you do, the better position you will be in once you start applying for jobs.
Thank you, Alyssa!
If you’d like to be featured as one of our 51 Women in Planetary Science, just send in an abstract of a recently published paper and we’ll send you five questions. If you’re a student, send in a question and we’ll forward it to successful women scientists who can answer your questions about career choices, sequencing, publishing, review panels, and other tips for success. This feature will run every Tuesday and Friday, as often as we have submissions.
Controlling Cost Growth
What I’m reading: Controlling Cost Growth of NASA Earth and Space Science Missions
Authors: Committee on Cost Growth in NASA Earth and Space Science Missions; National Research Council
Description (from the NAP website):
Cost and schedule growth is a problem experienced by many types of projects in many fields of endeavor. Based on prior studies of cost growth in NASA and Department of Defense projects, this book identifies specific causes of cost growth associated with NASA Earth and space science missions and provides guidance on how NASA can overcome these specific problems.
The recommendations in this book focus on changes in NASA policies that would directly reduce or eliminate the cost growth of Earth and space science missions. Large cost growth is a concern for Earth and space science missions, and it can be a concern for other missions as well. If the cost growth is large enough, it can create liquidity problems for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate that in turn cause cost profile changes and development delays that amplify the overall cost growth for other concurrent and/or pending missions. Addressing cost growth through the allocation of artificially high reserves is an inefficient use of resources because it unnecessarily diminishes the portfolio of planned flights. The most efficient use of resources is to establish realistic budgets and reserves and effective management processes that maximize the likelihood that mission costs will not exceed reserves. NASA is already taking action to reduce cost growth; additional steps, as recommended herein, will help improve NASA’s mission planning process and achieve the goal of ensuring frequent mission opportunities for NASA Earth and space science.
Available: Free prepublication .pdf download from the National Academies Press
Have you read this report? What do you think?
Kathleen Mandt: A nontraditional start
Kathleen Mandt published a paper on Titan recently as part of her Cassini work. Check out the paper, and her answers to our questions, below.
Mandt, K. E., J. H. Waite, Jr., B. A. Magee, J. Bell, J. Lunine, O. Mousis, D. Cordier, 2009, Isotopic evolution of Titan’s main atmospheric constituents, Planetary and Space Science, 57, 1917-1930.
Using Cassini ion neutral mass spectrometer stable isotope observations, we have developed a comprehensive method for modeling the time-evolution of the stable isotopic ratios in Titan’s major constituents, N2, CH4 and H2. Our model provides constraints on the initial 14N/15N ratio in N2, the time scale for the outgassing of methane from the interior, and the initial D/H ratio in methane. Over geologic time scales, the isotopes are fractionated by diffusion, atmospheric escape and photochemistry. Diffusion and escape preferentially remove the lighter isotopes for all constituents. Photolysis of methane also removes the lighter isotopes, while photolysis of nitrogen preferentially removes the heavier isotopes. We have found the following: (1) even taking past hydrodynamic escape into consideration, the initial 14N/15N ratio in N2 cannot have changed much from its current value as the result of atmospheric processes. This is due to the large amount of N2 that must be fractionated. High-rate loss processes, such as hydrodynamic escape, are inefficient fractionators and take a very long time to change the isotopic ratio. On the other hand, low-rate loss processes are efficient fractionators, but also take a very long time to influence a large inventory. (2) The current inventory of methane represents the remnant of methane that, constrained by the 12C/13C ratio, began outgassing from the interior more than 60 million years ago, resulting in a total inventory of 3-4 times the current inventory cycling through the system during this time period. Methane production is likely to be ongoing. (3) The initial D/H in methane was found to be 6.96-11.3×10‑5.
1. Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m essentially the poster child for non-traditional education. I joined the Navy right after graduation from high school and spent seven years on active duty. After having children, I stayed home to raise them while living the life of a Navy wife. During that time we relocated every 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 years. I managed to piece together a Bachelor’s degree and then completed an MS program with the University of North Dakota while we were living in Sofia, Bulgaria. My husband retired from the military after 20 years of service last November to give me the freedom to finally focus on my career. Our kids are now 11 and 12 (almost 13) and I feel very fortunate that I’ve been able to literally have the best of both worlds – raising kids and chasing my own career goals. I work as a Scientist at Southwest Research Institute, actively doing research and publishing my work. I’m hoping to complete my PhD within the next three years and continue with the work I am doing now.
2. What first interested you in planetary science?
I have always loved space science and am thrilled to have the opportunity to work in planetary science. It’s fulfilling a childhood dream.
Selecting schools has always been a matter of taking advantage of what is available, since family requirements have always been the dominating force in my life.
I kind of skipped that stage. I break tradition every chance I get.
Family is my first priority, even above my work. Watching my kids learn new things and accomplish their own goals is the most fulfilling part of my life. One could say that my work is my hobby which makes it so much fun. This mentality has helped me survive some things in my career that would have driven a younger person away. The bullying and abusiveness that some individuals resort to in order to advance their own goals have been quite shocking for me to encounter and I’m grateful that my family has served as a refuge in the most difficult of times.
SwRI has a wonderful program for hiring graduate students. This is what got me started in the field and gave me a chance to earn credibility (coming in as a “bored housewife”). I’m a regular employee now with the security and benefits that go along with such status. They take very good care of their employees with a great benefits package and a lot of support for scientists. We are a “soft money” institute, but the Internal Research and Development program helps us to get a leg up in competing for funding, especially with large projects such as instrument development. Many of our senior scientists advise graduate students and teach courses at local Universities and Colleges, so we are encouraged and supported by SwRI in developing the future members of our field. I’m very happy where I work, and with the role that the Institute plays in this community.
Thanks, Kathleen!
If you’d like to be featured as one of our 51 Women in Planetary Science, send in an abstract of a recently published paper and we’ll send you some questions. If you’re a student, send in a question and we’ll forward it to successful women scientists who can answer your questions about career choices, sequencing, publishing, review panels, and other tips for success. This feature will run every Tuesday and Friday, as often as we have submissions.
Louise Prockter: Be Tenacious
Louise Prockter is Supervisor of the Planetary Exploration Group at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory. Prockter has worked on the imaging team for the Galileo Europa Mission (GEM), the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission, and the MErcury Surface, Space Environment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission to Mercury. On MESSENGER, she has served as the Instrument Scientist for the Mercury Dual Imaging System, Co-Investigator, and Deputy Project Scientist. The Q&A below is from an interview in December at APL, but first – a recent publication.
Prockter, Louise M., Carolyn M. Ernst, Brett W. Denevi, Clark R. Chapman, James W. Head, III, Caleb I. Fassett, William J. Merline, Sean C. Solomon, Thomas R. Watters, Robert G. Strom, Gabriele Cremonese, Simone Marchi, and Matteo Massironi, “Evidence for Young Volcanism on Mercury from the Third MESSENGER Flyby.” Science, Volume 329, Issue 5992, pp. 668-671 (2010).
During its first two flybys of Mercury, the MESSENGER spacecraft acquired images confirming that pervasive volcanism occurred early in the planet’s history. MESSENGER’s third Mercury flyby revealed a 290-kilometer-diameter peak-ring impact basin, among the youngest basins yet seen, having an inner floor filled with spectrally distinct smooth plains. These plains are sparsely cratered, postdate the formation of the basin, apparently formed from material that once flowed across the surface, and are therefore interpreted to be volcanic in origin. An irregular depression surrounded by a halo of bright deposits northeast of the basin marks a candidate explosive volcanic vent larger than any previously identified on Mercury. Volcanism on the planet thus spanned a considerable duration, perhaps extending well into the second half of solar system history.
Louise grew up in the U.K., had an early career in sales and marketing, and went back to school for environmental science/geophysics at 27. After receiving her undergraduate degree from Lancaster University and her Master’s degree from Brown, she was looking for a Ph.D. project.
When I was trying to decide which direction I wanted to go in, that’s when the Galileo spacecraft had gone into orbit around Jupiter and was starting to send data from Ganymede. I had colleagues, Bob Pappalardo and Geoff Collins, who were working on grooved terrain on Ganymede. That’s where the exciting tectonics was. Everyone was looking at the grooved terrain and trying to understand how it had formed. There were all these images of dark terrain on Ganymede. No one was looking at them because it was kind of boring. It was just heavily cratered dark stuff. And so, I went to Jim [Head] and said: no one’s looking at these images, can I look at them?, and he was like, yeah, fine, off you go. I started mapping out just one little area of dark terrain and got completely absorbed in it. That turned into my first ever science paper.
Although I wasn’t on the Galileo team, I was just one of the many grad students working on the mission and I was allowed to go to team meetings. I got to meet a lot of people that I still work with today. Many of us met on the project as grad students and we all sort of came up together. It was incredibly exciting. I remember sitting in the team meetings being absolutely engrossed in every little detail of how things worked. Sometimes, we wouldn’t get data from Galileo because there had been a storm at the DSN station in Madrid, or one time, we think there were doves nesting in one of the antennas and we didn’t get the data. But, Galileo with its antenna and the tape recorder problems was such a challenging mission. We really learned to be flexible on that mission. We cut our teeth on having such limited resources – what can you do with these really limited resources? We had to squeeze every last drop of science out of every little bit – literally – that came down. And so, it was incredibly good training for me. That was also where I learned that space exploration is hard and things go wrong.
When did you start proposing [for research support]?
My first ever proposal was a PG&G [Planetary Geology and Geophysics] proposal to study Ganymede dark terrain. That was a follow-on from my thesis. But it took me a couple of years to break into PG&G, and even then, they gave me this little pittance. My first real proposal for an Eros project that was nothing to do with my thesis was to DDAP [Discovery Data Analysis Program]…. The thing about Eros is it’s the shape of a potato. It is really hard to do geology on something that’s the shape of a potato because handling the data is difficult – you can’t make a nice map of the surface and have it look anything like the original terrain because everything gets heavily distorted when it’s reprojected onto a sphere…. This is where the PDS is so important. Even now, we’re currently developing a tool, partly using our PMDAP [Planetary Mission Data Analysis Program award] funds, which will allow people to do geology more easily on something that isn’t round. One of the reasons I’m sure that I got funded and that people here at the lab got funded is because we had our own tools to analyze the data.
Louise has worked on several NASA missions, both formally and informally.
You have to be flexible. Had I not had the opportunity to work on the Galileo data, I probably wouldn’t have been attractive as a new hire here at APL. I would have been like any other grad student with a planetary geology degree. Having had the NEAR experience of working with an imager, I then started working on the MESSENGER camera –I started out as Scott [Murchie]’s deputy. I officially became the Deputy Instrument Scientist–I can’t remember when–I think it was 2003, 2004. And then, when [Scott] started working on the CRISM instrument on MRO, I took over as the instrument scientist on the camera. I found out that I had to really get down in the weeds. I learned a lot more about hardware, calibration, optical design, focal planes, you name it, than I had ever expected to.
Louise and I talked at length about MESSENGER, including her role as Deputy Project Scientist.
I think one of the challenges from the start has been how, when you launch in 2004 and don’t go into orbit until 2011, you keep MESSENGER in people’s minds during that long cruise? …. [The team did science and issued press releases and products after each flyby, including a movie as the spacecraft flew by the Earth.] One amazing and unexpected thing was when we found that Al Gore had used our Earth movie at the end of his “An Inconvenient Truth” documentary on global warming. That’s our movie that we took with our Mercury spacecraft. I’m so proud of that because it’s beautiful. You can just watch the earth going around. You can see the specular reflection on the oceans. You know there’s water down there just by looking at our movie of the Earth as we flew by it.
How are things going to change when you start drinking from the fire hose when MESSENGER goes into orbit?
That’s a really good question. First of all, I’m not planning on any vacation in that year [laughter]…. The data collection is going to be largely automated. Hopefully, we will have ironed out any little wrinkles along the way so that we don’t have to do that on the fly because it’s going to be very hard. If we miss something on the surface, we’re not going to see it again for six months.
MESSENGER had the PSP [Participating Scientist Program] in 2007. Was that a major part of your staffing up or are people hiring post-docs?
Part of what we wanted to do on the PSP was hire people who could also help us with the flyby data and analysis…. We have over 50 scientists now. Many of those do have grad students and post-docs who are starting to work on things. You’ll see more and more abstracts where the scientist on the team is the second or third author, which is nice. We’re starting to train those new, early career people to help out when we get into orbit. I think there is going to be a huge amount of science to be done.
What are you most looking forward to?
I’m so looking forward to seeing Caloris again at high resolution. I’ll be looking at one basin, the Raditladi basin, which has these bizarre troughs inside it that are very unusual. Even on flyby three, we saw another basin that has them, as well. So, we’ve now got these two examples on Mercury. Nothing else on Mercury has troughs quite like that – really bizarre. We don’t have quite high enough resolution data to understand them yet. So, to go back and see them again, and to have a global map taken at the same resolution, the same lighting; to be able to see all the compressional features or extensional features mapped out at once, just to get the global history, it’s going to be amazing. Right now, we’ve got data from three different flybys, but there’s always an annoying gap somewhere. So, I’m very excited about the orbital part of the mission. It’s going to be great.
Given that you have had such exciting roles on some really major missions in our field, what kind of advice would you give students, undergraduates, graduates and then even the post-docs, if there were a couple of things that really made a difference to you in getting started? People want to work on missions. They don’t know how to get started.
Be tenacious. If you know you want to do something, go find someone who will help you do it. I’ve benefited from having some amazing mentors, almost all men, I have to say, just because of the nature of the field at least when I got in it. I think, certainly for me—you know, I started out in a completely different career. It was a leap of faith for me to do this. I was lucky that I was able to take a chance on coming to a different country to do a Ph.D. I didn’t know what to expect. I might have hated every minute of it and had to go back home and do something else.
Don’t be afraid to try. Try to find a really good mentor. And if the person you’re working with isn’t giving you what you want, then go find someone else who will. Don’t be afraid to approach people and ask for help. I’m now the Group Supervisor of this group here, and I started as a post-doc.
…You don’t have to teach. We need good policy people. We need people at NASA Headquarters who can help us get more missions and help channel science and help with R&A. There are so many jobs in this field, in Congress or whatever, where you just need a good solid science background. And, yeah, to get on missions, it really helps to be somewhere where there’s someone doing mission work. But luckily, with the Mars program expanding the way it did and with Discovery — I think Discovery has changed the landscape such that you can now go and be a student and also work on a mission. That generally didn’t used to be the case. And so, there are a lot of opportunities. But, yeah, just don’t give up. Go ask people. Be annoying until you get what you want. That’s my advice, because that’s what I did. And look at me now – I have my dream job.
Thank you, Louise!
If you’d like to be featured as one of our 51 Women in Planetary Science, just send in an abstract of a recently published paper and we’ll send you five questions. If you’re a student, send in a question and we’ll forward it to successful women scientists who can answer your questions about career choices, sequencing, publishing, review panels, and other tips for success. This feature will run every Tuesday and Friday, as often as we have submissions.
Zonta graduate student fellowship
Zonta has issued its annual call for applicants for the Amelia Earhart Fellowship. The award is an unrestricted $10,000; 35 fellowships will be awarded this year. Any woman studying aerospace-related sciences (yes, including planetary science) or aerospace-related engineering is eligible. From the website:
Today, women remain a distinct minority in science and engineering, representing approximately 10 percent of professionals in these fields. The Amelia Earhart Fellowship program helps talented women, pursuing advanced studies in the typically male-dominated fields of aerospace-related sciences and engineering, achieve their educational goals. The Fellowship enables these women to invest in state-of-the-art computers to conduct their research, purchase expensive books and resource materials, and participate in specialized studies around the globe. Amelia Earhart Fellows have gone on to become astronauts, aerospace engineers, astronomers, professors, geologists, business owners, heads of companies, even Secretary of the US Air Force.
This is a long-running program supported by contributions to the Zonta International Foundation Amelia Earhart Fellowship Fund. Zonta has awarded 1,297 Amelia Earhart Fellowships since its inception in 1938. Applications may be downloaded from the Zonta website and must be received by 15 November 2010. The application does require three recommendations, so don’t delay! For questions, please contact programs@zonta.org.
hat tip: PEN newsletter
Rhiannon Mayne: Choose the right person to work with
Dr. Rhiannon Mayne and I met at the Women’s Networking Breakfast at LPSC. We’ve really just met, so let me let her introduce herself:
I am just about to start my second year as a tenure-track faculty member at Texas Christian University. I am the curator of the Oscar E. Monnig Meteorite Collection and an Assistant Professor of Meteoritics and Planetary Science. It’s my dream job – a mixture of museum and academic work.
Thank you, Rhiannon, for joining us today!
Rhiannon’s latest paper is in press in Meteoritics and Planetary Science:
Mayne, R. G., J. M. Sunshine, H. Y. McSween, T. J. McCoy, C. M. Corrigan, and A. Gale. “Petrologic Insights from the Spectra of the Unbrecciated Eucrites: Implications for Vesta and Basaltic Asteroids,” MAPS 2010.
We investigate the relationship between the petrology and visible-near infrared (VNIR) spectra of the unbrecciated eucrites and synthetic pyroxene-plagioclase mixtures to determine how spectra obtained by the Dawn mission could distinguish between several models that have been suggested for the petrogenesis of Vesta’s crust (e.g. partial melting and magma ocean). Here we study the spectra of petrologically characterized unbrecciated eucrites to establish spectral observables, which can be used to yield mineral abundances and compositions consistent with petrologic observations. No information about plagioclase could be extracted from the eucrite spectra. In contrast, pyroxene dominates the spectra of the eucrites and absorption band modeling provides a good estimate of the relative proportions of low- and high-Ca pyroxene present. Cr is a compatible element in eucrite pyroxene and is enriched in samples from primitive melts. An absorption at 0.6-µm resulting from Cr3+ in the pyroxene structure can be used to distinguish these primitive eucrites. The spectral differences present amongst the eucrites may allow Dawn to distinguish between the two main competing models proposed for the petrogenesis of Vesta (magma ocean and partial melting). These models predict different crustal structures and scales of heterogeneity, which can be observed spectrally. The formation of eucrite ALH A81001, which is primitive (Cr-rich) and relatively unmetamorphosed, is hard to explain in the magma ocean model. It could only have been formed as a quench crust. If the magma ocean model is correct then ALH A81001-like material should be abundant on the surface of Vesta and the Vestoids.
1. How did you first become interested in space science?
I cannot remember a time when I wasn’t. I was one of those kids who wanted to be an astronaut when they grew up and that dream just evolved into what I do today. I went to the UK version of Space Camp when I was 16 and loved every nerd-filled minute of it. I even planned to apply to do an astrophysics degree as an undergraduate but the careers advisor at my high school told me I would never get a job in planetary science and encouraged me to just do physics.
Long story short (and skipping over a few details), I ended up studying Geology at Edinburgh University and in my third year there Dr. Rhian Jones, who was a MSA Distinguished Lecturer that year, came to give a talk on meteorites. I decided to apply for a Ph.D. in meteoritics that day.
2. Did you do research as an undergrad?
Everyone was required to do a research project at Edinburgh and for most people this involved a detailed geologic mapping project at a place of their choosing. I was the accident prone one in my year and I was recovering from an incident where I ran over my own foot with an airport trolley (I could not replicate that one if I tried and several of my friends have tried), which resulted in some time on crutches and a no-no on the mapping project. I was given some 3D seismic data to interpret from the Wytch Farm Oil field in Dorset. I saw seismic lines in my sleep.
3. You’ve got some wonderful Co-Is on your upcoming MAPS paper — how did you meet?
Hap McSween was my Ph.D. advisor at the University of Tennessee. This paper is a result of some of my Ph.D. work. While I was at Tennessee, Tim McCoy came to give a seminar and he showed an interest in my Ph.D. project. My research involved examining a lot of thin sections and meteorite hand samples to select the samples I needed and for that I traveled to the Smithsonian where I encountered Tim again (for those who do not know Tim is the curator-in-charge of the National Meteorite Collection). I then applied for a 10-week graduate fellowship at the Smithsonian and during that fellowship Tim offered me a postdoc when I graduated. The offer came 4 years before my graduation but he stayed true to his word and I was his postdoc for a year before taking my current job. All the other co-authors I met as a result of my work with Tim. He ended up playing an instrumental role in my dissertation research; he was, and still is, a wonderful mentor, and a great friend.
So that the others get their due I should mention them as well. Jessica Sunshine (Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland) helped me learn to swim in the sea of spectroscopy without falling in and drowning. Cari Corrigan (Smithsonian) and I are currently collaborating on new projects and she and her family traveled over the pond to my wedding this Summer. Allie was an undergraduate working at the Smithsonian when I met her and she collected some vital data for me. I still wish I had her efficiency and drive, she set the bar high for me when it comes to working with undergraduates. Allie is currently a graduate student at Harvard.
4. What advice would you offer to undergrads looking to go further in planetary science?
If you want to go further then graduate school is in your future and I think the best piece of advice I can give is to do your research before applying. Planetary science is a very diverse field and it really helps to know what aspect of it you are interested in so that you choose the right person to work with. Once you have narrowed your options down then you should contact the person (or more likely people) that you think could be a possible advisor: ask them questions, tell them something about you and what you are interested in. This will help you in several ways. 1) You can assess where to apply and who has projects you might be interested in. 2) When the faculty members look at graduate school applications it really helps if that is not the first time we see your name.
Thank you, Rhiannon!
If you’d like to be featured as one of our 51 Women in Planetary Science, send in an abstract of a recently published paper and we’ll send you some questions. If you’re a student, send in a question and we’ll forward it to successful women scientists who can answer your questions about career choices, sequencing, publishing, review panels, and other tips for success. This feature will run every Tuesday and Friday, as often as we have submissions.
Monday Minute
What’s new in planetary science and/or women in science? These links were sent to us this week — check out what other readers of this blog want you to know!
1. NASA’s Kepler Telescope detects a possible Earth-sized planet. The New York Times (and others) reported this week on a NASA press conference addressing the progress hinted at in Dimitar Sasselov’s TED Global talk last month: in essence, that Kepler had detected many Earth-like planets. Sasselov and the Kepler team have previously issued statements of clarification, but the issue is definitely hot, as the public wants to know, but the science papers have not yet been published by the team. Stay tuned for new planet announcements from the Kepler team, headed by PI Bill Borucki and Deputy PI Natalie Batalha — but they’re not ready yet.
2. In A Cosmologist Resists Academia’s Work-Life Norms, a story about Sarah Bridle on Science Careers, Bridle says, “I decided that if I wasn’t a lecturer by the age of 30 that I would quit academia, because I thought it would be too stressful being on a temporary contract when starting a family.” Oh, where to begin discussing this? Bridle talks openly about work-life balance issues as an astronomer in the U.K. in this article and at conferences; she also did a survey of 425 university astronomers that resulted in this report on Work Life Balance in Astronomy in 2009.
3. The August Scientae Carnival was hosted by fellow planetary scientist Alyssa, writing at Apple Pie and the Universe. Looking for a more informal way to meet other female science students, postdocs, and professionals? Check out the monthly Scientae carnivals — and submit a link to one of your own posts this month! (Deadline 8/31 7:00 a.m. EDT)
That’s what’s new in our field(s) this week! Send interesting articles (with or without commentary) to us at susanniebur@nieburconsulting.com and we’ll post them for everyone each Monday, on this new feature, the Monday Minute!
Image: © Copyright Christine Matthews and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. ![Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]](https://i2.wp.com/creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif){kind=small}
Emily Lakdawalla: “It is NOT failure to leave academia.”
If you read about planetary science on the internet, you probably already know Emily Lakdawalla, Science and Technology Coordinator/Blogger at The Planetary Society. But did you know that she was once a graduate student in geology at Brown? That she has served as deputy project manager for Red Rover Goes to Mars, an E/PO project for MER? That she writes and voices Planetary Radio, a weekly public radio show on 120 stations throughout North America? I didn’t, and that’s why I was thrilled when she contacted me about writing a piece for our site. That piece will come later this Fall, but first, let’s meet Emily Lakdawalla, as part of our series on 51 women in planetary science.
1. When did you first become interested in space science?
I’ve been interested in space since I was a kid, but I was also interested in all sorts of other fields, from engineering to paleontology. I discovered geology as an undergraduate at Amherst College; I loved how creative a science geology is, where you have to piece together the history of a landscape from very limited data, and where you have to use observations made on the surface to imagine what’s going on deep inside it. Because of the amount of imagination and storytelling required, geology seemed to attract interesting people, sucking in students who were originally majoring in history or English or the visual arts. And I had great teachers, including a female role model, Tekla Harms, who became my advisor.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to grad school in geology, though, so I decided to take a break from academia and find a “real job” after graduating from college. So I went to teach general science to fifth grade students in a private school north of Chicago. At that school, they did a “Space Simulation” project every year, a big cross-disciplinary project. This was in 1997, when Galileo was returning amazing images, and those must have been on my mind when I guided the kids to pretend they were conducting a mission to Jupiter’s moons. It was in the middle of that project that it suddenly occurred to me to wonder whether anybody studied the geology of places like Io and Europa. I asked Tekla, and she said, yes, they did; she helped me locate planetary geology programs, and I eventually attended Brown, working with Jim Head. So I’ve come to space science from the perspective of a boots-on-the-ground structural geologist, and I love to imagine the landscapes across all the solid worlds of the solar system.
2. What was your research focus?
I did structural geology and geophysics, working with the SAR images and topographic data returned by the recently-ended Magellan mission. Geographic Information Systems were just beginning to be used in the space sciences, and I put a lot of work into building a GIS for a small region of Venus, examining how the topographic data and mapped geologic units related to each other. The geology of Venus is so spectacular, with volcanoes at every scale, and all kinds of folding and faulting laid bare to the radar eyes of Magellan. But I also did projects working with data from Clementine’s camera and Mars Global Surveyor’s laser altimeter; the latter project led to my one and only peer-reviewed publication, about a little cone-shaped mountain on Mars that looks just like stratovolcanoes like Mount Fuji both to cameras and, it turns out, in its symmetrical topography as well.
3. What led you to leave bench science for a career in science media?
There were three reasons that I left, two negative, one positive. On the negative side, I just lacked confidence in my ability to be a really successful academic. I knew that I was smart enough, but not sure that I was tough enough or driven enough to push through the long hours, to fight for grant funding, to fight for tenure, to shoulder a teaching load and do it well (because I refuse to put in poor work) and then keep working long days to do really quality research — and still enjoy a happy marriage and be a good mother to (future) children. And I also hated the prospect of specializing in one tiny little subfield of space science, knowing that for all the work I would put in to my research on Venus tectonics, only a few people (if any) would actually read those papers I put so much effort into; while every extra hour taken for teaching and research would be time taken away from family.
But I had discovered something exciting at Brown. Brown hosts a Regional Planetary Image Facility. That means that inside the planetary geosciences building there are thousands and thousands of enormous glorious photographic prints from all the planets — case after case of Magellan radar images, Lunar Orbiter Moon images, Viking Mars images, and more. The latest images from Galileo were printed out on enormous two-meter sheets and strewn across tables in the labs. Case after case of CDs held more digital data, and I was learning how to process it to make gray landscapes like the Moon’s spring into previously unseen colors. I never knew before just how much data was there, how much more than the few images you ever see on TV or in magazines. There are so many views of these alien landscapes that nobody gets to see, even though they are “owned” by the taxpayers and freely available to the public. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I knew that what I really wanted to do was to help more people see all of these amazing images.
So I quit after earning a Master’s degree and followed my husband out to Los Angeles; a year later, while interviewing for a job at a local science museum, a staff member there showed me the job listing for the Planetary Society. I’ve been there since 2001.
4. Is your audience at The Planetary Society blog more scientists or the general public? What is the value of social media for scientists?
Both. I see my audience as what I call the “interested public.” People who seek out more than what they can learn from general media. That includes astronomy and space enthusiasts. But it also includes a lot of scientists, because scientists (except for the superhuman ones) really do specialize in small subfields, so can’t keep track of what’s going on in other areas. I know that Mars geologists like to read my blog for the latest from Saturn’s moons, for example, and the outer planets folks like seeing the latest from Mercury and the Moon. I don’t pretend to cover everything, especially now that I’m working only part-time, but I try to cover as many different topics and places as I can, to give both the general public and the academics some news from places they wouldn’t otherwise hear from, and to cover that news in greater depth than you get at websites that just regurgitate press releases. Of course I also try to do some writing that’s accessible to just about everyone, featuring at least one post per week that is just a “pretty picture.”
I also try to get some scientists to write about their own work on my blog. I think it’s a valuable exercise for anybody to try to explain the work they’re doing to an audience that is outside of their subfield, whether it’s the public or a group of scientists who studies a different part of the solar system. It forces you to step back and consider the big picture, to crystallize and clarify your ideas, and maybe even make connections to other subfields that can help in your own work.
5. What advice would you offer young scientists?
There are a lot of people offering advice to young people who stay the course in academia. So I’ll speak to those people who begin graduate study but decide to finish with a Master’s degree, or go work in private industry after earning a doctorate. My number one message to those people is that it is NOT failure to leave academia. Look around you, students; you have far more classmates than there will ever be grant funding for. Some people leave because they can’t hack it or can’t get a job, but lots of people leave because they just decide that research isn’t for them. I hate being described as someone who “leaked out of the pipeline” just because I chose not to continue doctoral study. I am not a “drip,” and neither is anyone else who successfully completes an advanced degree and then successfully finds a job that they enjoy, where they can apply their critical thinking skills and research acumen to solving other kinds of problems. Your professors can’t see that as success because most of them have never, ever been out of school, so most of them will only offer advice for how you can stay. But you can get that degree and then apply it in lots of other ways than just doing more research, just as I am applying my Master’s degree toward educating the world about what’s going on out there in the solar system. In fact, I would argue that I am accomplishing far more to advance the human pursuit of knowledge about our solar system as a writer for the public (and a cheerleader for space exploration funding) than I ever would have as a middling-quality Venus geophysicist. For those of you who are not sure you want to stay in academia, contact the career office at your school to get in touch with alumni who have graduated from the same program as you, or who studied entirely different fields but live in your hometown. Make connections and explore other possibilities. You may decide you want to stay in academia, but you should make sure that you aren’t staying just because it’s the default option.
My other piece of advice is to cultivate your ability to write, to express yourself with brevity and clarity. Writing is important not only for explaining your research, but also for applying for grants and jobs. People who write well, with an engaging voice and correct spelling and grammar, make a positive first impression, giving them a leg up over their competition. My advisor at Brown made all his students submit abstracts to the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. The struggle to write those abstracts helped us identify holes in our knowledge or in the completeness of our work; presenting our work in posters or talks gave us poise and confidence in intimidating situations. So keep a journal, or start a blog. Just write.
Recent publications:
Lakdawalla, Emily. “Spacecraft Imaging for Amateurs,” Sky and Telescope, January 2010.
Emily also sent along two blog articles that show the two endpoints of her blog writing — one’s a “pretty picture” post, the other an explanation of an academic paper. Both are valuable to the community that reads her work at The Planetary Society blog.
Thank you, Emily!
If you’d like to be featured as one of our 51 Women in Planetary Science, send in an abstract of a recently published paper and we’ll send you some questions. If you’re a student, send in a question and we’ll forward it to successful women scientists who can answer your questions about career choices, sequencing, publishing, review panels, and other tips for success. This feature will run every Tuesday and Friday, as often as we have submissions.
Two Jobs: Isotope Geochemistry in Zurich
Spotted in EOS: Two Professorships in Isotope Geochemistry
… the half-page ad ends with “With a view towards increasing the number of female professors, ETH Zurich specifically encourages qualified female candidates to apply.”
To read the full advertisement, login to AGU.org and select the 10 August 2010 issue, volume 91, number 32.
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job announcement is out
Just a quick update – the MSFC planetary science job opening is posted on USAJobs.com through August 24th. Read the full post here.
Amy Lovell: Radio astronomy and planetary science
Amy Lovell is Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Agnes Scott College. She volunteered to be the next of the 51 Women in Planetary Science — and we’re so glad she did! Lovell has worked at a number of different observatories; please read on for more!
Observations of asteroids with ALMA, Lovell, Amy J. Astrophysics and Space Science, 313, 191-196 2008
Abstract: Thermal observations of large asteroids at millimeter wavelengths have revealed high amplitude rotational lightcurves. Such lightcurves are important constraints on thermophysical models of asteroids, and provide unique insight into the nature of their surface and subsurface composition. A better understanding of asteroid surfaces provides insight into the composition, physical structures, and processing history of these surviving remnants from the formation of our solar system. In addition, detailed observations of the larger asteroids, accompanied by thermophysical models with appropriate temporal and spatial resolution, promise to decrease uncertainties in their flux predictions. Of particular interest are the near-Earth objects, which can be observed at large phase angles, permitting better assessment of the thermal response of their unilluminated surfaces. The high sensitivity of ALMA will enable us to detect many small bodies in all the major groups, to obtain lightcurves for a large sample of main-belt and near-Earth objects, to resolve the surfaces of some large objects, and to separate the emission from primary and secondary objects in binary pairs. In addition to the science goals of asteroid studies, these bodies may also prove useful operationally because those with known shapes and well-characterized lightcurves could be employed for flux calibration by ALMA and other high frequency instruments.
1. When did you first become interested in space science?
As a child I enjoyed field trips to museums and planetariums, but I didn’t have much interest in science until my freshman year of college, when I took astronomy for the first time and really loved it.
2. How did your summer undergraduate research experiences affect your decisions about graduate school?
I enjoyed two wonderful summer research experiences: the first at Maria Mitchell Observatory in Nantucket where I studied variable stars, and the other at Cornell University where I worked on Arecibo Radar observations of Venus, in preparation for the Magellan mission. Both experiences helped me know that I liked research, and enjoyed the observational side of astronomy. My trip to Arecibo helped me know I was interested in radio astronomy and in planetary science. I was also fascinated with the observatory environment and the wide array of things that go on in research facilities. I think the most important thing about my summer experiences was the helpful advice and encouragement of my mentors, Lee Belserene at Maria Mitchell and Don Campbell at Cornell.
3. How do you balance research with teaching and mentoring at Agnes Scott?
My job at Agnes Scott involves a lot of one-on-one interactions with students. I teach five courses each year and also work outside class with students who need help or who are doing independent research. I devote most of the summer to research, but can only make a little time for research (such as writing abstracts, writing and reviewing proposals, or attending meetings) during the school year. I like to travel in the summer to go somewhere I can concentrate on observing or data analysis. In some cases, I’ve been able to take students along with me on summer research trips. Balance is hard to achieve, usually I’m either in teacher-mentor mode or I’m in research mode, and not often both.
4. Tell us a little about your research experiences in Mexico and Puerto Rico.
In 2004, I spent January through July in Mexico at INAOE (Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica) in Puebla. INAOE is in partnership with the University of Massachusetts in building the Large Millimeter-wave Telescope (LMT). While I was there, I mostly worked with data I already had in hand, but I also enjoyed the chance to advise a couple of graduate students, an experience that I don’t get in my home institution.
After I received tenure, I was granted a year-long sabbatical leave and was able to go for a full year to Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. While there, I was able to plan and carry out a number of observations of comets in addition to working with the staff to learn more about the capabilities of the telescope and other research going on there.
In both of these research trips I have been able to relocate along with my entire family, so the kids were in school one semester in Mexico and a full year in Puerto Rico.
5. What is your current research?
I am continuing a 10-year project to study OH emissions (at 18cm or 1667 MHz) from comets. We are using the data to understand how much gas is produced by each comet, how it varies with time (if possible), how fast the gases are escaping from the comet, and if there are any interesting asymmetries in how the gas is produced. We have a variety of data on long-period and short-period comets, observed with the Arecibo 305m radio telescope and with the 100m Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia. Recently, we’ve also had the opportunity to investigate several icy asteroids to see if they might be producing any gas, or acting like comets in some way. In addition, I have been involved with a program to observe thermal emission of asteroids, and we’ve found that for a few asteroids, their thermal emission varies more than would be expected from their shapes or how they appear visually. Thermal emission can be studied and any radio or millimeter wavelength, and there are exciting possibilities for this project, using the new eVLA in New Mexico and ALMA in Chile.
Thank you, Amy!
Nicolle Zellner
azalucha
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Susan Niebur
