Current Members
Research Associates
Shelby Cave, Ph.D Candidate
Shelby's research is focused in the area of planetary volcanology. She studies volcanic processes on Earth and compares her findings to volcanism on other planets. Her terrestrial field area is the Sentinel-Arlington Volcanic Field (SAVF) in southwestern Arizona. She is currently mapping and characterizing the SAVF using a combination of techniques including field mapping, remote sensing, geochemical assessment, and paleomagnetic analysis to determine if SAVF is a candidate for plains-style volcanism as defined by Greeley, 1982. These results will be compared to low shield volcanoes in the Eastern Snake River Plain, Idaho; small parasitic shield volcanoes on the flanks of Kilauea volcano, Hawaii; and possibly similar constructs in Iceland in order to define genetic populations of this ubiquitous volcanic landform. These results will be used to further understand small shield volcanoes on other planets, particularly on the southern flank of Pavonis Mons, Mars, in order to understand their role in the volcanic history of the Tharsis region. Shelby's research techniques include field mapping, photo-geological assessment, XRF bulk chemical analysis, geomagnetic secular variation studies, and familiarity with the Martian remote-sensing data sets, mainly High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on Mars Express, as well as the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) and Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) datasets from Mars Global Surveyor. Shelby graduated with a Masters of Science in Geological Sciences from Arizona State University (2004); and with a B.S. (with Honors and Distinction) in Geological Sciences with a minor in Marine Science from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2000).
Thomas Doggett, M.S. Student, Research Assistant
Thomas went to Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) majoring in Geology and History, with a concentration in the History of Science, before coming to Arizona State, earning his Masters of Science in 2005 and continuing on into the PhD program. Current research includes the global geologic map of Europa and modeling the thermal emission of cryovolcanic processes. He is a member of the science team for the Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment (ASE), demonstrating the automated detection of cryospheric change using the Hyperion visible/near-infrared hyper-spectrometer on board Earth Observing 1 (EO-1). Previous work includes regional mapping of Venus during an internship at Pomona College and mineral physics research during an internship at Carnegie Institute of Washington's Geophysical Laboratory.
Dr. Ronald Greeley, Regents' Professor
Ronald Greeley has been involved in lunar and planetary studies since 1967. Current research is focused on gaining an understanding of planetary surface processes and geological histories. The approach involves a combination of spacecraft data analysis, laboratory experiments, and geological field studies on Earth of features analogous to those observed on the planets.
Steve Kadel, Senior Research Specialist
Steve Kadel is a 1993 M.S. graduate from the Planetary Geology Group in ASU's Dept. of Geological Sciences. He has worked with the Planetary Geology Group since the spring of 1991 on various projects including lunar and Europa science from the Galileo Mission to Jupiter, and investigation of lava tubes and field evidence for lava erosion. He has been the primary compiler of the NASA/ASU Worldwide Lava Tube Database, the largest on-line searchable repository of information and maps of lava tubes in the world. He has enlisted the assistance of several groups of gifted high school students, as well as former and current PG Group staff members in this on-going effort.
Steve has also been very active in educational outreach programs, creating educational exercises for K-12 students interested in planetary science, as well as the Mission to Mars electronic field trip. This web-based study of space mission planning and geologic processes, focusing on the surface of Mars and Earth-based analogs, was released to the public via a world wide web site in the late Fall of 2000. In addition to numerous abstracts and co-authorships over the past ten years, Steve published his first lead-author paper, The Geological History of the Tyre Region of Europa, in the Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets.
Current projects include preparation of a follow-up manuscript on chemical evidence for lava erosion, and a synthesis of the Galileo, Clementine and Lunar Prospector results for the rock composition and geologic history of the Moon's Orientale Basin.
Lynn D.V. Neakrase, Ph.D. Student, Research Assistant
Lynn's research interests lie in Martian cryogeology, polar processes, and aeolian processes. Lynn completed his M.S. in Dec., 2001 from A.S.U. and it included mapping the southern polar layered terrain of Mars in conjunction with the landing zone of the failed Mars Polar Lander Mission, polar wind analyses based on observations of aeolian features, and classification of polar processes for the polar layered deposits of Mars.
Currently, Lynn is pursuing his Ph.D. in Martian aeolian processes with work including NASA Ames Mars General Circulation Models, boundary layer flow field analyses of the Mars Exploration Rovers, and experimental investigation of Martian dust devils (dust devil threshold wind speeds and dust fluxes) using the Arizona State University Vortex Generator in Earth-ambient and Martian-analog pressures, using the Arizona State University Planetary Aeolian facility and the Mars Surface Wind Tunnel facility at NASA Ames Research Center in California.
Lynn is also interested in Geographical Information Systems and their potential uses in planetary science. He enjoys working public events for educational outreach activities as well. He received a B.S. in Astronomy/Astrophysics (minor in mathematics) and a B.A. in Geological Sciences (minor in Slavic Languages and Literature: Russian) from Indiana University in 1997 and 1998 respectively.
Mary Pendleton Hoffer
Mary has been accepted to the ASU/SESE Graduate Program in Geology for Fall, 2009, and plans to complete an MS degree. Her goals include planetary research and science writing. She is a member of the science team for NASA –funded Automatic Landmark Identification (PI: Dr. Kiri Wagstaff, JPL), working on detection of dust devil tracks. Other research interests include: crater morphology comparisons (Venus, Mars, Callisto and Titan); correlating surface and orbital data; developing standard criteria for image comparison; a dust devil history of Gusev Crater, Mars; lava tube morphology (Moon); carbonatites and other unusual volcanics, Earth analog studies, and mapping.
Mary’s background is in music. She attended Texas Tech University, the Royal College of Music and Royal Academy of Music, London, and ASU, completing Bachelor, Master and Doctor of Music degrees, as well as Artist Diplomas in piano and harpsichord performance. She worked for 18 years as an orchestral keyboardist with the Phoenix (AZ) Symphony and the Florida Orchestra (Tampa), and she continues to perform with the Myakka River Piano Trio (www.myakkariverpianotrio.com). Other interests are hiking, gardening, British procedurals, and animals, especially cats.
Ramses Ramirez, M.S. Student, Research Assistant
Ramses is currently a Master’s candidate in the School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE) interested mainly in volcanological and climatological applications on other planets. Ramses is particularly interested in explosive volcanism and his thesis will focus on the remote sensing and modeling of lunar pyroclastic deposits. Although several Apollo missions have brought back lunar samples, the genesis of lunar pyroclastic deposits are still poorly understood. Clementine Ultraviolet-Visible (UV/VIS) and Near-Infrared (NIR) data sets will be utilized to shed light on outstanding questions.
In addition, Ramses is funded to analyze the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit data sets to deduce wind properties from aeolian features visible on the rocks.
Ramses Ramirez graduated High Honors in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2001. In 2005, he obtained another bachelor�s in geology from the University of South Florida. Ramses has been involved in several team design competitions and has presented a paper at an AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) student conference on multi-pass orbit shaping maneuvers to geosynchronous orbit. When not thinking about other planets, Ramses likes to travel, read, play baseball, RPGs, and video games.
Chris Salvino
Update to follow.
Devin Waller
Updates to follow.
Dr. David A. Williams, Faculty Research Associate
Dr. David A. Williams is currently serving as a Faculty Research Associate in the School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE) at Arizona State University. He served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at ASU in 2001-2002, in which he cotaught Physical Geology and a graduate seminar in Planetary Volcanology. David is currently performing research in volcanology and planetary geology, with a focus on planetary mapping, geochemical, and remote sensing studies. His research has included computer modeling of seismic wave propagation through planetary interiors, visible and near-infrared spectroscopy of the lunar surface, planetary geologic mapping of the satellites of Jupiter, computer modeling of the physical and geochemical evolution of lava flows in a variety of planetary environments, and petrologic study of lava samples from Mount St Helens. He was involved with NASA's Magellan Mission to Venus and was a member of the Solid-State Imaging Team of NASA's Galileo Mission to Jupiter.
Dr. Williams is currently serving as an Associate Investigator on the High Resolution Stereo Camera Team of the European Space Agency's Mars Express mission. He is also involved in education/public outreach activities including giving talks to school and civic groups and developing educational materials. David received his Bachelor of Science in Astronomy & Astrophysics (with minors in Mathematics and Geology) from Indiana University in 1989, and his Master of Science in Geology from Arizona State University in 1992. He received his Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Alabama in August 1998, where he was a three-time Graduate Council Research Fellow and received the award for Outstanding Research by a Doctoral Student from the University of Alabama Graduate School in 1998. He has also performed geologic field studies in Hawaii, the Canadian subarctic, Western Australia, and South Africa. David has been part of the faculty at ASU for over seven years, and has recently published papers in the Journal of Geophysical Research, Bulletin of Volcanology, and the planetary science journal Icarus.
Amy Zink, B.S. Student, Research Assistant
Amy is currently in the process of earning her undergraduate degree within the field of geology. She is in the early stages of her degree and therefore is not yet decided on which areas of geology she would like to pursue further, though she is interested in studying all aspects of the discipline. She is considering going on to study Oceanography with emphasis in either climate studies and/or coastal research and open ocean policy in graduate school.
Amy is working as a Research Assistant at the Planetary Geology Space Photography Laboratory.