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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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