NASA Postdoctoral Program - Geology and Tectonics of Mars

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects at a NASA Center, NASA Headquarters, or at a NASA-affiliated research institute. These one- to three-year fellowships are competitive and are designed to advance NASA's missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology. This specific opportunity focuses on the geologic interpretation of data returned by Mars orbiter and lander/rover missions. Areas currently being investigated include: the geology, geomorphology, rock distribution, and landscape development of the landing sites; the physical characteristics of the surface from remotely sensed data; the selection of landing sites for Mars landers and rovers currently under development; the geologic setting of layered sedimentary deposits; and the tectonics of structural features, regions and provinces. This research is closely tied to supporting the present Mars Exploration program in terms of selecting landing sites for landers and rovers using targeted orbital remote sensing data and understanding how the surfaces relate to remote sensing data. The fellowship will be based at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California under the advisement of Dr. Matt Golombek.