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Presenters |
Greg Mehall
Greg Mehall has 20 years of engineering experience with space flight missions including both flight hardware development and mission
operations. He is currently a research specialist in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at the Arizona State University Mars
Space Flight Facility. Since 1992 he has been the instrument manager, systems engineer, and mission manager for the Mars Observer and
Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometers (TES), the Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), and the Mars
Exploration Rovers Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometers (Mini-TES) science investigations. As the instrument manager and systems
engineer, he is responsible for the design, fabrication, testing and spacecraft integration activities for these instruments at
Raytheon, Lockheed Martin Astronautics and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. As mission manager, he manages the daily mission operations
activities for these experiments from the ASU and JPL Mars Space Flight Facilities. During the 5 years prior to his employment at ASU,
he was an integral member of the engineering team that designed and built the ASU instruments at Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote
Sensing. His fields of expertise include electronics, optics, and systems engineering. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in
electrical engineering from the University of Michigan and a Master of Science degree in electro-optical engineering from Stanford
University.
Dr. Michael Meyer
Dr. Michael Meyer is a Senior Scientist at NASA Headquarters in the Science Mission Directorate. He is the Lead Scientist for
the Mars Exploration Program and Program Scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory rover mission, to be launched in 2009.
He was the Senior Scientist for Astrobiology and Program Scientist for the 2001 Mars Odyssey. The Astrobiology Program, started
with him as the Discipline Scientist, is dedicated to the study of the life in the universe. He has managed NASA's Exobiology
Program and was also the Planetary Protection Officer for NASA. He has been an assistant research professor at the Desert
Research Institute, University of Nevada, and has served as associate director and in research for the Polar Desert Research
Center, Florida State University. In 1982, he was a visiting research scientist at the Culture Centre for Algae and Protozoa
in Cambridge, England. Dr. Meyer's interest is in microorganisms living in extreme environments and he has conducted field
research in the Gobi Desert, Negev Desert, Siberia, the Canadian Arctic, and Antarctica. Dr. Meyer earned a Ph.D. and M.S.
in Oceanography, Texas A&M University, and B.S. in Biology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Brian Grigsby
Brian Grigsby is the Assistant Director of the ASU Mars Education and Outreach Program
within the Mars Space Flight Facility, School of Earth and Space Exploration at
Arizona State University. He received his Bachelor Degree in Biology from Humboldt
State University and a Masters Degree in Science Education from Chico State University.
Brian is the Distance Learning Coordinator for the program and also assists in the
creation of new Standards-based curriculum that allows educators nationwide to be
involved in the exploration of Mars while continuing to meet their educational objectives.
Brian taught high school science for 7 years in Redding, CA, where he was also a
planetarium director for 5 years. While teaching, Brian was selected to participate
in the highly competitive NASA workshops (NEWMAST).
In 2002, he received an IDEAS grant to develop a Virtual Field Trip with a NASA
led expedition to the Licancabur volcano. He was the Education Public Outreach coordinator
for that expedition where he spent 26 days in the Andes mountains, transmitting
images, videos and stories back to the rural communities of northern California
(via the Virtual Field Trip website). This expedition allowed students to communicate
directly with scientists that were performing real scientific research. His position
with the ASU Mars Education program allows for his love of teaching and his love
of Mars exploration to meld together.
Dr. Joshua Bandfield
Joshua Bandfield is a research specialist at the Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona
State University. He has a B.S. in Geological Sciences from UC Santa Barbara (1996)
and a Ph.D. in Geology from Arizona State (2000). Josh has worked with infrared
data from the Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, and Mars Exploration Rover spacecraft
to determine Martian surface compositions and atmospheric properties.
Paige Valderrama Graff
Paige Valderrama Graff is the Assistant Director of the ASU Mars Education and Outreach
Program within the Mars Space Flight Facility, School of Earth and Space Exploration
at Arizona State University. She received her Bachelor Degree in Education from
Indiana University and a Masters Degree in Multi-cultural Education from Northern
Arizona University. Paige is the Mars Student Imaging Project Coordinator and also
assists in the creation of new Standards-based curriculum that allows educators
nationwide to be involved in the exploration of Mars while continuing to meet their
educational objectives. Paige taught middle school mathematics for 11 years in Nogales,
AZ where she also facilitated a mathematics, engineering, and science program for
students and began a community-wide science program. While teaching, Paige was selected
to participate in highly competitive NASA workshops, including an international
remote sensing workshop held in France. Her position with the ASU Mars Education
program allows for her love of teaching and her love of Mars exploration to meld
together.
Dr. Jack D. Farmer
Jack Farmer received degrees in Geology and Paleobiology from California State University,
Chico (B.A.), the University of Kansas (M.S.) and U.C. Davis (Ph.D.) and has held
positions as Senior Museum Scientist and Lecturer (U. C. Davis, 1972-1977), Senior
Petroleum Geologist (Exxon, Western Division Production, Los Angeles, 1978-1984),
and a Visiting Professorship in the Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences at UCLA (1985-1990).
Jack spent 1991-93 at NASA-Ames Research Center as a National Research Council Senior
Postdoctoral Fellow, becoming a Civil Servant and Research Scientist in the Exobiology
Branch there in 1994. In August, 1998, Jack joined the faculty of Arizona State
University as Full Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences. His research
interests include early biosphere evolution, the microbiology, paleontology and
biosedimentology of extreme environments, early evolution of multicellular life,
and strategies to explore for a past or present life elsewhere in the Solar System.
He is on the editorial board of "The Astrobiology Journal", "The International Journal
of Astrobiology" and "Geobiology", and is active in the Geological Society of America,
the American Geophysical Union, and the Paleontological Society. He has held appointments
as a member of NASA's Space Sciences Advisory Council and past Chair of the Mars
Exploration Program Advisory Group. He was a member of NASA's Solar System Exploration
Roadmap Development Team, the Mars 2001 and 2005 Science Definition Teams and the
Mars 2003 Site Selection Advisory Group.
Dr. Farmer is presently a member of the National Research Council's Space Studies
Board where he is helping to formulate national space policy. He directs ASU's Astrobiology
Program and was a member of the Executive Council of NASA's Astrobiology Institute
from 1998 to 2003. He is participating scientist on the Mars Exploration Rover (MER)
mission, which is still exploring the red planet and is a team member for the Mars
Science Laboratory Mission (MSL), which will be launched in 2009. He and his wife,
Maria, live in Scottsdale (AZ) and are proud parents to their son, Brett Matthew
and daughter, Bethany Rose. Jack loves music and art and when not working, loves
to relax with his guitar, sketch pad and camera.
Kobie Boykins
Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Kobie Boykins graduated Cum Laude from Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York before becoming a mechanical engineer at
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. Boykins has worked on projects
from Pathfinder and Mars Exploration Rovers to Ocean Surface Topography Mission
over his ten years at the lab. He was involved in the NANOROVER/MUSES-CN microver
technology and flight task and has worked many pre-proposal and proposals as a member
of Team X. Boykins served as the CogE of the Mars Exploration Rover’s Solar Array
Mechanisms and Structures and as a member of the ATLO team. Boykins is currently
a technical group supervisor, leading the mobility and mechanisms group.
For more information contact webseminars@nsta.org
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Underwritten by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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