Setting Our Sights on Mars!

Speaker

Dr. Rice is an Associate Professor of Planetary Science at Western Washington University, where she has held a joint appointment in the Geology Department and the Physics & Astronomy Department since 2014. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University in 2012, and was a NASA Astrobiology Institute Postdoctoral fellow at Caltech from 2012-2014. Her research focuses on the sedimentology, stratigraphy and mineralogy of Mars.

Speaker

After sitting at his desk as an undergraduate watching coverage of the Curiosity Rover launch, Darian Dixon knew what he needed to do. He had long dreamed of working in the space industry and contributing to human exploration of the cosmos, and right then and there, he decided he would change his major and pursue that childhood dream.

At University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, his hometown university, he changed his major to geology and never looked back. He earned his B.S. in Geology in 2015 and moved next to Western Washington University. There he studied under Mastcam-Z Co-I Dr. Melissa Rice and had the opportunity to attend Mars-2020 team meetings, contribute to the Mastcam-Z team, and realize his childhood dreams by earning his M.S. in Planetary Geology in 2018.

He is now an MSL MMM operator and the Mastcam-Z Data Management (ZDM) Lead at Malin Space Science Systems in sunny San Diego. Outside of the thrilling world of Mars exploration, Darian is an avid gardener (ask him if you want any bananas. PLEASE. His banana tree is too prolific. Seriously. See the pic.), loving husband, dog owner, gamer, rabid basketball fan, and gym rat. Darian is also a STEM ambassador who does school speaking events to encourage young students of color from underprivileged backgrounds to not be afraid of forging a path in STEM as he has.

Speaker

Jess is a geology graduate student at Western Washington University, where they use reflectance spectroscopy and multispectral imaging to study the composition of sands and soils on Mars. Jess received their B.S. in physics, with minors in astronomy and chemistry, from WWU in 2020 and their research interests include remote sensing, space exploration, and the origins of life.

Outside of the lab, Jess is passionate about science communication and dedicated to building inclusive and equitable spaces in STEM for folks from underrepresented and targeted identities.
 

Moderator

Dr. Scott Linneman is a Professor of Geology, director of Western’s Honors Program, and a Mars exploration enthusiast.