Martha Scott Gilmore (born c. 1974) is an American planetary geologist. She is the George I. Seney Professor of Geology and Director of Graduate Studies at Wesleyan University.

Martha Gilmore
Born1974 (age 49–50)[notes 1]
Academic background
EducationBA, Geology, 1991, Franklin & Marshall College
MS, PhD, Geological Sciences, 1997, Brown University
ThesisTessera terrain on Venus: style, sequence and duration of deformation (1998)
Doctoral advisorJames W. Head
Academic work
InstitutionsJet Propulsion Laboratory
Washington and Lee University
Wesleyan University
Websitemgilmore.faculty.wesleyan.edu

Early life and education edit

Gilmore passed a high school equivalency exam at the age of 14 and applied to Franklin & Marshall College's geology and astronomy program.[1] After graduating college, she earned her PhD from Brown University in 1998[2] and worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a postdoctoral researcher.[1]

Career edit

Gilmore taught at Washington and Lee University for a year before joining the faculty at Wesleyan University in July 2000.[1] That year, Gilmore and her research team published "Strategies for autonomous rovers at Mars"[3] as they began developing a software that would allow the Mars rover to identify minerals and take samples.[4]

As an associate professor of earth and environmental sciences, Gilmore received a grant from NASA to fund her study “Mapping and Structure Analysis of Fold Belts in Tessera Terrain, Venus” with Phil Resor.[5] While sitting on NASA's Inner Planets Panel Membership team,[6] she published "Remote sensing and in situ measurements for delineation and assessment of coastal marshes and their constituent species."

In May 2014, Gilmore was promoted to full professor of earth and environmental sciences.[7] The following year, she collaborated with Patrick Harner to publish "Visible–near infrared spectra of hydrous carbonates, with implications for the detection of carbonates in hyperspectral data of Mars." Their article suggested that hydrous carbonate minerals might be relevant on Mars.[8] Later that year, Gilmore was selected to join NASA's investigation teams; Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging (DAVINCI) mission and The Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography and Spectroscopy mission (VERITAS) mission. Her research team received $3 million to conduct an in-depth concept design studies.[9] Both mission concepts were resubmitted for Discovery funding in 2019 and in February 2020 were among the four missions selected as finalists, each receiving $3 million for further development.[10][11]

By October 2019, Gilmore received funding by NASA to conduct her research on the habitability of Venus. In the following months, she would conduct run studies at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to explain how the mission would address the scientific priorities of the Decadal Survey and NASA.[12][13]

Notes edit

  1. ^ In 2002, Gilmore was reported to be 28[1]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d Grant, Steve (March 31, 2002). "IT TAKES A ROCK SCIENTIST". Hartford Courant. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  2. ^ "Present and Past Activities of Alumnae/i". planetary.brown.edu. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  3. ^ Gilmore, Martha (December 25, 2000). "Strategies for autonomous rovers at Mars". Journal of Geophysical Research. 105 (12): 29223–29237. Bibcode:2000JGR...10529223G. doi:10.1029/2000JE001275. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  4. ^ Deborah Byrd; Joel Block (May 10, 2003). "Smart Mars Rovers". Archived from the original on December 10, 2005. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  5. ^ Drake, Olivia (December 17, 2008). "NASA Awards Grant for Venus Study". newsletter.wesleyan.edu. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  6. ^ Space Studies Board Annual Report 2009. National Academies Press. January 1, 2010. p. 38. ISBN 9780309154659. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  7. ^ Drake, Olivia (May 30, 2014). "2 Faculty to Receive Tenure, 5 Promoted to Full Professor". newsletter.wesleyan.edu. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  8. ^ Drake, Olivia (January 20, 2015). "Paper by Gilmore, Harner MA '13 Says Mars May Host Hydrous Carbonate Minerals". newsletter.wesleyan.edu. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  9. ^ Drake, Olivia (October 4, 2015). "Gilmore a Science Team Member of 2 Space Mission Proposals Selected by NASA". newsletter.wesleyan.edu. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  10. ^ "$6M in NASA Funding Awarded to Projects with Contributions by Gilmore". News @ Wesleyan. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  11. ^ Brown, Katherine (2020-02-13). "NASA Selects 4 Possible Missions to Study Secrets of the Solar System". NASA. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  12. ^ Rubenstein, Lauren (November 4, 2019). "NASA Funds Study of Gilmore's Venus Mission Concept". newsletter.wesleyan.edu. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  13. ^ Isenegger, Claire (November 15, 2019). "Professor Gilmore Receives NASA Funding for Venus Mission Study". wesleyanargus.com. Retrieved February 4, 2020.

External links edit