2. MENTOR DESCRIPTIONS In the Phoenix Student Interns Program, scientists from the Phoenix Science Team act as mentors to the students and teachers, involving them in research and projects associated with the Phoenix Mars Lander Mission. Please read the mentor descriptions below to determine the team to which you would like to apply. Geographic Proximity Required means that you and your students must be close enough to the mentor s institution to be willing and able to travel to the site at least twice a month to work in a lab, meet with the mentors and colleagues, and prepare for the mission. This is due to the specialized equipment or activities required by the mentors work. Open Nationwide means that you and your students can be located anywhere in the United States, including U.S. possessions and schools operated by the U.S. for the children of American personnel overseas. The mentors work does not require specialized/unattainable equipment. Work with such scientists would be accomplished across distance (phone, email, Internet). ***Note: U.S. Citizenship is required of all participants (teacher and students).*** GEOGRAPHIC PROXIMITY REQUIRED (You must be close enough to the mentor s institution to travel to the site ate least twice a month) Name Location Deborah Bass Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasadena, CA Diana Blaney Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasadena, CA William Boynton Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ Mike Hecht Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasadena, CA John Hoffman University of Texas, Dallas, TX Sam Kounaves Tufts Univ., Medford, MA Doug Ming NASA JSC, Houston, TX Nilton Renno Peter Smith Carol Stoker Leslie Tamppari Ray Arvidson Dick Morris Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ NASA ARC, Mountain View, CA Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasadena, CA OPEN NATIONWIDE Washington University, St. Louis, MO NASA JSC, Houston, TX Ray Arvidson Ray Arvidson is a Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. He is a Co-Investigator (Robotic Arm), chairs the Phoenix Landing Site
Working Group, and is the Archive Lead of the Phoenix Mars Mission. In this role, Arvidson will help select the landing site and work on the geomorphology and physical properties of terrains, soils, and ices. The teacher and students chosen to work with him will generate terrain and geomorphic maps of the landing site with a goal of placing the lander results in a regional geologic setting. Deborah Bass Deborah Bass is a scientist and researcher at NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. She is the Deputy Project Scientist of the Phoenix Mars Mission. In this role, Bass coordinates science team operations staffing and works with other Mars missions to coordinate data relay back to Earth. The teacher and students chosen to work with her will help prepare documents for relay operations with a goal of generating the operations products describing chosen data relay options. They will also help implement changes to the operations staffing schedule. Diana Blaney Diana Blaney is a research scientist, the Deputy Project Scientist of NASA Mars Exploration Rovers, and the ChemCam Investigation Scientist of the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory Mission at NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. She is a Co-Investigator (Soil Science, Geological Studies) of the Phoenix Mars Mission. In this role, Blaney be working with MECA optical microscope and SSI imaging data to understand composition and geologic history of the northern plains. The teacher and students chosen to work with her will help with the data analysis and the derivation of spectral properties in MECA optical microscope images and SSI images with a goal of deriving a cross calibration between the two data sets. William Boynton William Boynton is a Professor of Planetary Sciences at the Lunar and Planetary Science Lab at the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ. He is a Co-Investigator (TEGA Lead, Geochemistry) of the Phoenix Mars Mission. In this role, Boynton will operate the TEGA instrument on Mars, will calibrate the engineering model of TEGA, and will analyze the data after they come back from Mars. The teacher and students chosen to work with him will assist with the laboratory calibration of the instrument and with the data reduction process with a goal of generating reports and publications on the results of the mission. Mike Hecht Mike Hecht is a physicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. He is a Co-Investigator (MECA Lead, Material Properties) of the Phoenix Mars Mission. In this role, Hecht will have overall responsibility for the MECA instrument suite and will use the MECA data to help understand the distribution and state of water, ice, and water vapor; water-soluble chemicals; and the physical characteristics of soil particles. The
teacher and students chosen to work with him will compare mission data with measurements from laboratory specimens with a goal of simulating martian soil on Earth. John Hoffman John Hoffman is a professor in the Physics Department at the University of Texas at Dallas, in Richardson, TX. He is a Co-Investigator on the TEGA experiment of the Phoenix Mars Mission. In this role, Hoffman will be working with the data to interpret the mass spectra to determine the composition and abundances of the gases observed in the effluents from the soil/ice samples scooped up from the trench that are heated in the TEGA ovens. The teacher and students chosen to work with him will become familiar with the mass spectrometer and its operating characteristics, learn how to extract mass and abundance data from the spectra, learn how to plot the data and interpret the results with a goal of verifying the existence of water in the samples, identifying any gases dissolved in the water, and determining the composition of minerals and atmospheric constituents. Isotopic ratios of the principal elements and the noble gasses will also be determined. Sam Kounaves Sam Kounaves is a Professor of Chemistry at Tufts University in Medford, MA. He is a Co-Investigator (Wet Chemistry Lab Lead, Chemical Analysis) of the Phoenix Mars Mission. In this role, Kounaves will lead the chemical interpretation of the MECA Wet Chemistry Lab inorganic and electrochemical analyses of the soil/ice constituents, He will help develop sampling and analytical methodologies that ensure viable and reliable chemistry results and is characterizing the instruments packages. Based on synthetic, simulant, and model systems, his group is developing a comprehensive response library. The teacher and students chosen to work with him will fully participate in the ongoing modeling, development of a sensor response library, and the reduction and analysis of the data returned from Mars with a goal of enabling accurate qualitative and quantitative interpretation of Martian geochemistry, its use for deciphering the history of the Martian surface, and in understanding the potential for the Martian environment to support microbial life, past and present, and for determining the chemical safety for future human visitors. Doug Ming Doug Ming is a soil mineralogist at NASA s Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. He is a Co-Investigator (TEGA calibration Lead, Soils, Geochemistry, Organic Blank) of the Phoenix Mars Mission. In this role, Ming is responsible for calibration of the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA), fabrication of the Organic Free Blank (OFB), development of sample analog characterization database, and interpretation of science data returned from the Phoenix payload. The teacher and students chosen to work with him will aid in the characterization of the thermal and evolved gas properties of martian analogs with a goal of producing datasets that will be used in the analog characterization database to will be used during Phoenix landed operations.
Dick Morris Dick Morris is a senior planetary scientist at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. He is a Co-Investigator (SSI, Analogs, Mineral Interpretation) of the Phoenix Mars Mission. In this role, Morris will participate in daily mission operations of the SSI and will do tactical interpretation of SSI and TEGA data. The teacher and students chosen to work with him will generate multispectral data from SSI images with a goal of determining distinct spectral units at the Phoenix landing site. Nilton Renno Nilton Renno is an Associate Professor of Atmospheric and Space Sciences at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. He is Co-Investigator (Planetary Boundary Layer, Dust Electrification, Water Cycle) and lead of the Atmospheric Science Theme Group of the Phoenix Mars Mission. In this role, Renno will help with mission planning, operations and the analysis of atmospheric science data. The teacher and students chosen to work with him will help with mission planning and data analysis with the goals of understanding dust and water transport, dust devils, dust storms, dust electrification and its role on atmospheric chemistry and habitability. Peter Smith Peter Smith is a senior research scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Science Lab at the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ. He is the Principal Investigator of the Phoenix Mars Mission. In this role, Smith is fully responsible for all aspects of the mission. The teacher and students chosen to work with him will assist him on issues ranging from dayto-day lander operations to preparation for press briefings with an overall goal of participating in the science, engineering, and management elements of being lead of a mission to Mars. Carol Stoker Carol Stoker is a planetary scientist at NASA s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA. She is a Co-Investigator (3-D Mapping, Spectroscopy, Habitability) of the Phoenix Mars Mission. In this role, Stoker will assess the habitability of the landing site during the present or a past epoch using the full array of Phoenix instrumentation, along with modeling of Martian climate change. She will also work with imaging data sets and produce three-dimensional reconstructions from stereo images from the Surface Stereo Imaging and Robotic Arm Cameras. The teacher and students chosen to work with her will perform experiments and background information searches to assist Carol with a goal of helping to understand the habitability of the Martian surface and subsurface in the polar regions. Leslie Tamppari
Leslie Tamppari is a scientist at NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. She is the Project Scientist and a Co-Investigator of the Phoenix Mars Mission. In this role, Tamppari will participate in planning science observations and analyzing the mission data with a focus on understanding the Mars atmosphere and water transport issues. The teacher and students chosen to work with her will assist with day to day science planning and management issues, including planning, coordinating, and analyzing science observations between the Phoenix mission and the concurrent orbiter missions with a goal of participating in planning, coordinating and executing science observations.