CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY - Key Persons
Abigail Keebler grew up in southeastern Pennsylvania and graduated from West Chester University of Pennsylvania in 2021 with her B.S. in Geoscience-Geology and minors in Physics and Mathematics. Abigail is interested in planetary surface processes on terrestrial planets and rocky moons. Currently, she is using spectroscopy to constrain the mineralogy of atmospheric dust on Earth.
Job Titles:
- Principal Investigator of Lunar Trailblazer
- Professor of Planetary Science
- Professor of Planetary Science Allen V.C. Davis and Lenabelle Davis Leadership Chair, Keck Institute for Space Studies Director, Keck Institute for Space Studies
- Professor of Planetary Science at Caltech
Professor Ehlmann's research focuses on the mineralogy and chemistry of planetary surfaces, remote sensing techniques and instruments, astrobiology, and science policy and outreach.
Bethany Ehlmann is a professor of planetary science at Caltech. She is also Director of Caltech's Keck Institute for Space Studies. Her research focuses on the mineralogy and chemistry of planetary surfaces, remote sensing techniques and instruments, astrobiology, and science policy and outreach. Her primary focus is unraveling Mars' environmental history and understanding water in the solar system.
Prof. Ehlmann is Principal Investigator of Lunar Trailblazer, a NASA smallsat mission with a goal to map the form, distribution, and abundance of water on the Moon and understand the lunar water cycle. She is a Deputy PI of the CRISM imaging spectrometer on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Participating Scientist on the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, Co-I on the Mastcam-Z and SHERLOC teams for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, and Co-I on the EMIT space station-based imaging spectrometer to explore Earth's dust source regions. She was also a member of the science team for the Mars Exploration Rovers (Spirit and Opportunity) and an Affiliate of the Dawn orbiter team during its exploration of the largest asteroid and dwarf planet Ceres. Prof. Ehlmann is working to propose instrument and mission concepts for Europa, Enceladus, Venus, the Moon, and asteroids.
Job Titles:
- Principal Remote Sensing Scientist
Job Titles:
- Senior Machine Learning Engineer
Job Titles:
- Lab Manager
- Research Scientist
Dr. Rebecca Greenberger (she/her/hers) received her PhD in 2015 from Brown University, joined the Ehlmann group as a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at JPL for two years, and has been the group's lab manager and a research scientist at Caltech since 2017. She is interested using imaging spectroscopy and other spectroscopic techniques in the field and laboratory to better understand Earth and other planets. Her current projects include investigation of deep hydrothermal circulation in Earth's ocean crust and the products of serpentinization, both using micro-imaging spectroscopy.
Erin Pimentel (she/her) graduated from Hamilton College in 2022 with a B.A. in Geosciences and minors in Mathematics and Japanese. She is broadly interested in planetary surfaces and the remote sensing techniques used to study them. She is currently working on improving topography maps over tessera terrain on Venus using Magellan radar altimeter data and integrating datasets of water ice abundance on the Moon in preparation for the upcoming Lunar Trailblazer mission.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Research Technician
Jasper Miura (he/him) joined the Ehlmann lab after completing his B.Sc. in inorganic geochemistry at Brown University in 2019. His current project uses imaging spectroscopy to study Martian meteorite spectral diversity. His work also consists of brand design, web design, and general graphic design for the Lunar Trailblazer mission.
Jessica grew up in Nampa, Idaho, and graduated from Boise State University with a B.S. in Geosciences in 2021. She is broadly interested in the isotopic and mineral evolution of the solar system. In her current research, she is creating a robust framework of spectral data from calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) that will better inform the interpretations of remote sensing data.
Mma Ikwut-Ukwa (she/her) received her A.B. in Astrophysics with a secondary in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Harvard University in 2020. Mma's interests span questions of evolution and habitability for solar and extrasolar planets. She is currently working on dating glacial-like features in the Martian mid-latitudes to provide constraints for models of the Amazonian climate.
Oak (they/them/theirs) graduated from Dartmouth College in [the fateful year of] 2020 with A.B.s in Earth Science and Native American Studies. Their broad research interests include Martian paleoclimate; the development of a generalized model of planetary evolution through comparative planetary science; and questions of habitability. Their current work focuses on Martian geomorphology and the history of liquid water on Mars, as well as Martian landscape evolution through dry processes such as rockfall.
Job Titles:
- Co - Advised With Rebecca Greenberger )
Samantha Baker (she/her/hers) graduated from the University of Chicago in 2021 with a B.S. in Geophysical Sciences. In her current research, she uses spectral data to understand the aqueous history of Mars through the examination of silicate weathering. Her broad research interests include exploring planetary surface processes through the lenses of geochemistry and geomorphology.
Sergio Parra is an Atlanta-native and earned his B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, alongside a minor in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. His current work centers on characterizing the aqueous alteration of carbonaceous chondrites using SWIR spectroscopy. His broad research interests include ancient habitable environments, the origin of life, and extant microbial communities in the deep biosphere.
Valeria Kachmar (she/her) graduated with a B.Sc. in Physics from RUDN University, Russia, in 2021. Before joining the Ehlmann lab in 2022, she worked on microwave experiments to simulate the lunar dust exosphere in the lab. Currently, she is modeling reflectance spectra of water-ice deposits on the Moon, trying to understand how different ice scenarios would manifest themselves in remote sensing data.
Will Lawrence is from Toronto, Canada and graduated from Yale in 2022 with a B.Sc. in Chemistry and Earth & Planetary Sciences. His current research involves the spectral characterization of primitive meteorites (carbonaceous chondrites) and how it may be used to elucidate processes that occurred on parent body asteroids. He is generally interested in the application of remote sensing to space exploration, as well as the distribution and evolution of organic matter and volatile compounds in the solar system.
Yu Yu Phua graduated from the University of Tokyo in 2021 with a M.S. in Materials Science. She is interested in studying planetary chemistry involving H 2 O through laboratory experiments. Currently, she is working on the detection threshold for H 2 O spectral signatures.