Finally, I've just started working on MarsQuest -- a museum exhibit about Mars that will begin touring the country in mid-1999. I'm the science content coordinator, and will be responsible for deciding what topics will be included in the exhibit and making sure the content is scientifically accurate. We plan to have a life-sized reproduction of the Pathfinder landing site, as well as large dioramas of several locations on Mars (the North Polar Cap, the Valles Marineris canyon, perhaps the top of a volcano...). MarsQuest will be a great experience for visitors -- you should feel like you've actually visited the surface of Mars! I'm an admitted "Mars nut," so having this opportunity to get the "Mars story" out to the public is a dream come true!

My Career Path

From the time I was in grade school I was interested in airplanes and space exploration, so it seemed like a career in engineering was the way to go. I went to college at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) and got a BS and M.Eng. in engineering; both involved studying a lot of math and physics. When I was a senior (1975-1976), the Viking missions had just been launched to Mars and I got seriously bitten by the "planetary geology bug." After finishing my engineering studies, I continued in graduate school at ' Washington University (St. Louis, MO) and got a MA in Earth & Planetary Sciences (this involved a lot of catch-up work in geology and geophysics). Finally, I ended up back at Cornell, where I finally got a PhD in Planetary Geology. I spent two years at Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ) as a researcher, then arrived at LASP in Boulder in 1986. So, I've been studying Mars for most of the past 20 years and am overjoyed to see another spacecraft looking around the surface, and several more waiting in the wings!