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CURRICULUM VITAE

Appointments and Committees
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Appointments

2017-present: Lecturer in Planetary Science, University of Glasgow

2022-present: Graduate Faculty, The University of Alabama.

2016-present: Scientific Associate, The Natural History Museum, London

2016-2017: Research Associate, University of Glasgow

2014-2016: Marie Curie International Incoming Fellow, University of Glasgow

2010-2014: NASA astrobiology post-doctoral research fellowship, University of Hawaii (UH)

2006-2010: PhD - Petrological and Geochemical Investigations of Mare Basalts

                    Supervisors: Dr Mahesh Anand (The Open University, Milton Keynes)

                                            Prof. Sara Russell (The Natural History Museum, London)

2002-2006: MSci Geology, The Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London

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Committee Memberships

Extraterrestrial materials analysis group (ExMag) - meteorites sub-committee

UK Space Agency Space Exploration Advisory Committee (SEAC) - Mars exploration expert member

Skills
Grants

Large Grants

University of Glasgow Research Reinvigoration Award. Jan. 2021-July 2022. £32,870 (PI). 

STFC Urgency Grant: Winchcombe meteorite bulk-rock organic analyses. 27th March 2021-26th Sept. 2021. £17,000 (PI).  

University of Glasgow COVID-19 Research Recovery Grant: 1st April 2021-31st July 2021. £9336 (PI).

University of Glasgow Reward for Excellence: Organics on Mars: Meteorites vs. ExoMars. £10,000 (PI).

University of Sydney/UoG Partnership Collaboration Award: Exploring Mars atom-by-atom. Feb 2019- Jan 2020. £25,895 (Co-I, Martin Lee PI).

The Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grant: Martian Fluid Compositions: The Habitability of Two Ancient Environments. 1st Oct. 2018-30 Sept. 2021. £76,243 (PI).

The Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grant: Were hypervelocity impact structures cradles of life? 4th June 2018-3rd June 2021. £187,509 (Co-I, Martin Lee PI).

MBR Space Settlement Challenge: Enabling planetary exploration using solar hydrogen in asteroid regoliths. 1st Oct. 2018-30th Sept. 2020. £10,800 (Co-I, Martin Lee PI).

Angus Mitchell funded PhD award, The University of Glasgow: Organic Carbon in Martian Meteorites. 1st Oct. 2017-30th Sept. 2020. £57,066 (PI).

Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship, The European Research Council: Investigations into Martian Volatiles. 3rd April, 2014- 2nd April 2016. £168,242 (PI).


 

Additional Small Grants

Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society (SAGES) small grants: The affect of Hypervelocity Impacts on D/H ratios. £2400 (PI).

Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society (SAGES) small grants: Awards for travel and research costs. 1st Oct. 2016-22 Nov. 2017. £1557 (PI)

John Robertson bequest, The University of Glasgow: Tracking the rate of Martian surface desiccation. 1st Jan. 2017-31st Dec. 2017. £1650 (PI).

Public Engagement Small Awards Scheme, Science and Technology Facilities Council: Microscopy Summer School for GCSE students. 24th November 2014-23rd November 2016. £1630 (PI).

Paneth Trust Internship, The Royal Astronomical Society: Searching for Martian Melt Inclusions. 21st July-29th August 2014. £1080 (PI).

Analytical Experience

  • Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM): The Natural History Museum London, The Open University, The University of Hawaii, The University of Glasgow

  • Electron Microprobe Analyses (EMPA): The Natural History Museum London, The Open University, The University of Hawaii, The University of Edinburgh

  • Micro-Raman spectroscopy: The University of Hawaii, The University of Glasgow, The Geophysical Laboratory at The Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington D.C., The Diamond Lightsource Synchrotron.

  • Laser ablation ICP-MS: The Natural History Museum London, The Open University, The University of Glasgow. 

  • Fourier Transform Infer-red (FTIR) spectroscopy: The Diamond Lightsource Synchrotron.

  • X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES): The Diamond Lightsource Synchrotron.

  • Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM): The University of Glasgow, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, CA, The University of Sydney.

  • Multi-collector ICP-MS and ICP-AES: The Natural History Museum London

  • Laser Fluorination Mass Spectrometry: The Open University (oxygen isotope system).

  • Sensitive High Resolution Ion Microprobe (SHRIMP): Hiroshima University, Japan (U/Pb and Pb/Pb isotopic dating) 

  • SIMS: Cameca ims 1280 ion-microprobe, The University of Hawaii (Hydrogen, oxygen and boron stable isotope systems); Cameca NanoSIMS 50L, The Open University (Hydrogen stable isotope system); Cameca 6f, Arizona State University.

  • LC- and GC-MS: The University of Glasgow Polyomics facility and the School of Geographical and Earth Sciences BECS facility, respectively. 

  • Atom Probe tomography CAMECA SX and SR 5000 at Oxford University, and CAMECA SX 4000 at the University of Sydney. 

Selected Synergistic Activities

  • Field team member, Winchcombe meteorite location and recovery. In March 2021 I was part of the field team dispatched to search and locate a recent meteorite fall within the Gloucestershire countryside. The fireball of the Winchcombe meteorite was tracked through the sky by the UK fireball network of ground-based cameras, and its potential strewn field predicated based on this data. Numerous pieces of this meteorite were recovered over the following days, including a fusion crust covered ~150g piece recovered by our University of Glasgow field team.   

  • Glasgow 2022 MetSoc meeting: Chair of the local organising committee

  • Film and TV: My research is the subject of the 2022 Red Bull adventure science film ‘The other side of the Moon’. I have also been a scientific expert on 'The Sky at Night' (BBC, 2015) and 'Striping the Cosmos' (a Discovery Channel series).   

  • iMOST Team member: The International MSR (Mars sample return) Objectives and Samples Team (iMOST) was a science study team formed on behalf of the International Mars Exploration Working Group (IMEWG), relating to the scientific planning of Mars Sample Return (MSR). Our aims included refining and updating the scientific objectives of MSR, identifying the types of samples that would be required/desired to achieve those objectives, and evaluating the types of sample-related measurements that would be implied. iMOST played a major role in catalysing the signing of a joint “Statement of Intent” between NASA and ESA to work together on MSR (along with any other international partners who want to participate), as well as the selection of Jezero crater as the Mars 2020 landing site. 

  • Participant, The Royal Society Exhibition 'Storing Skies' exhibit (2016).

Invited Presentations

[1] Martian organics, a Public Lecture for the Geological Society Year of Space 2021. 2nd June 2021.

[2] Mars 2020 4th Landing Site Workshop. 16th-18th Oct. 2018, Los Angles, USA.

[3] The International Space Science Institute (ISSI) Workshop: The Role of Sample Return Missions in Addressing Outstanding Planetary Science Questions. 5th-9th February 2018, Bern, Switzerland.

[4] Goldschmidt International Geochemistry Conference 2017. Keynote Speaker. Paris, France.

[5] International Interdisciplinary Workshop 2017: Accretion, Differentiation and Early Evolution of the Terrestrial Planets. Nice, France.

[6] American Geophysical Union 2016. San Francisco, USA

[7] Committee on Space Research of the International Council for Science (COSPAR) 2016 scientific assembly, Istanbul.

[8] The Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University ‘Oceans’ workshop. Boston, June 2016.

[9] University of St Andrews Geochemistry Seminar Series.

[10] The Royal Society Theo Murphy workshop: The origin, history and role of water in the evolution of the inner Solar System. February 2016, UK.

[11] Origins of Life, Gordon Conference 2014. Borate in Martian Clays. Galveston, Texas.

Affiliations, Memberships and Prizes

Prizes: The Meteoritical Society Nier Prize 2018

Affiliated researcher, The SETI Institute Carl Sagan Center, Californi

Memberships: The Meteoritical Society, Scottish Alliance for Geoscience Environment and Society (SAGES), Scottish Planetary Science Research Network (SPERO), The Scottish Green party

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