Current MAVEN Principal Investigator:
Dr. Shannon Curry
Research Scientist
Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL)
University of California, Berkeley
Research Interests:
Dr. Shannon Curry is the Deputy Associate Director for Planetary Science and Astrobiology at the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, where she currently is involved in NASA and NSF supported research projects. Her research focus is on terrestrial planetary atmospheres and their evolution. She is also involved in developing instruments for future flight missions to other bodies in the solar system. She is currently the PI for the NASA Mars Atmospheric and Volatiles EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission, Project Scientist on the ESCAPADE SIMPLeX mission in development, science team member of Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission, and a collaborator on NASA’s Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) program.
Former MAVEN Principal Investigator (2003-2021):
Dr. Bruce M. Jakosky
Professor of Geological Sciences
Associate Director for Science, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Ph.D., 1982, California Institute of Technology
Research Interests:
Prof. Jakosky teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in both Earth and planetary geology and extraterrestrial life, including both the science and the societal and philosophical issues relating to the science. His research interests are in the geology of planetary surfaces, the evolution of the Martian atmosphere and climate, the potential for life on Mars and elsewhere, and the philosophical and societal issues in astrobiology. He has been involved with the Viking, Solar Mesosphere Explorer, Clementine, Mars Observer, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, and Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft missions, and is involved in planning future spacecraft missions. He heads up the University of Colorado’s team in the NASA Astrobiology Institute. He has published more than 100 papers in the refereed scientific literature. His book “The Search for Life on Other Planets” was published in 1998 by the Cambridge University Press, and “Science, Society and the Search for Life in the Universe” was published in 2006 by University of Arizona Press. He serves on numerous national advisory committees. He serves as Associate Director for Science in the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado.
