Year 2 Updates

Wow, what an amazing year! Some great highlights:

• First off, I am now a PhD Candidate! I passed my oral exams and project proposal and look forward to continuing my dissertation research titled “Machine Learning Applications for Mineral Substitution Chemistry, Predictive Prospecting, and Deposit Detection.”
• This year, I also became an official member of the MSL Team at NASA, where I get to participate in Curiosity Rover Operations as a CheMin Instrument Payload Uplink/Downlink Lead (PUDL) and as a general Science Team Member. It is an outstanding experience to be surrounded by such excellent scientists everyday.
• I defended a M.S. Thesis on my Martian Mineral Association Analysis work, which predicts additional mineral phases along Curiosity’s traverse.
• I presented at GSA and MSA annual meetings, sharing my science with the world and making excellent connections.
• I’m beginning an internship with Lithium Africa, where I’m excited to apply my remote sensing and ML skills into current industry problems.

Looking forward to more great opportunities to come!

My research group , advisor (Shaunna Morrison), and advisor’s advisor (Bob Downs).