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Meet: Jeff Plescia
Research Scientist, Planetary Geology
U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Arizona
Who I Am
I am a research scientist with the U. S. Geological
Survey Astrogeology Program in Flagstaff Arizona. I have an M.S. and Ph.
D. in geophysics from the University of Southern California and a B.S. in
geology from the University of Miami. I enrolled at the University of Miami
thinking I wanted to be an oceanographer. Since they did not have an undergraduate
oceanography degree, I majored in geology. As an undergraduate, I had the
opportunity to spend three months on an oceanographic cruise in the equatorial
Atlantic. I liked being at sea, but realized that I wasn't all that interested
in oceanography, and I did like geology; so I continued as a geology major.
Despite not going into oceanography, I've been on about a half-dozen cruises
over the years, mostly helping out friends who are doing experiments. I've
had a long-standing interest in space science and that's what brought me
into planetary geology. I remember sitting in front of the television watching
with great interest and excitement the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon (now
30 years ago) and following the entire space program - both manned and robotic.
When I went to graduate school at USC, I had the chance to work at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA's home of robotic exploration, at the
same time. That gave me the opportunity to get into planetary geology. Since
that time, my research has focused on the volcanic and tectonic history
of Mars and aspects of large meteor impacts on the Earth. In addition to
the research, I have been very involved in planning for future Mars missions,
both robotic and human.
How I Got Here
When I arrived at the University of Southern California in 1977 for
graduate school, I wrote a letter to Bruce Murray, who was at the time
the director of JPL. I indicated my interest in planetary science and
he was kind enough to ask Roger Phillips to invite me to visit JPL and
talk with the staff. As a result of that visit, I went to work for Steve
Saunders and began mapping tectonic features in the Tharsis region of
Mars. I gave up a summer job with Exxon to work at JPL in the summer of
1977 and that evolved into a long tenure at JPL while in graduate school
and went on until I finished. During my graduate school career I worked
at JPL doing planetary research and at USC doing geophysical research.
My dissertation topic was a gravity and magnetic study of the Tehachapi
Mountains of southern California to study the crustal structure of the
region. When I finished my Ph. D. I went to work at the U.S. Geological
Survey in Flagstaff for a few years as a postdoc and then returned to
JPL. While still a member of JPL staff, I did two stints at NASA Headquarters
in Washington DC, running research programs and coordinating the programmatic
aspects of Mars exploration. A year ago, I decided that I had had enough
of Los Angeles smog and earthquakes and decided that the pine trees of
Flagstaff were a better place to be. So now I work at the U. S. Geological
Survey again.
What I Do
As a research scientist my time is spent between two major activities
- research and administration. My research interests includes martian
volcanism, tectonism and general geology. I've long been interested in
studying martian volcanism because there is such a diversity of structures
and the scale of things is enormous. I've also studied graben and wrinkle
ridges on Mars to understand how the crust has been deformed over time.
During the Voyager mission to the outer planets, I was heavily involved
in the imaging experiment and studying the geology of the icy satellites
of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. It was incredibly exciting seeing those
pictures coming down from the spacecraft and knowing you were seeing scenes
that no human had ever seen before. That same exciting experience was
shared by most of the world in real time over the July 4 weekend with
the landing of Pathfinder on Mars. During my tenure at the USGS, I began
working with the late Gene Shoemaker on impact craters. My interest has
been conducting gravity surveys over large craters to determine their
structure. Over the last few years, I've worked on numerous craters in
Australia, in the Canadian arctic, and in the U. S. This research has
involved some fun field trips to exotic places!
Learn More From My Chats
May 11,
2000
October 5, 1999
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