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 Planetary Science: People
Pamela Conrad's Picture
Address:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
M/S 183-301
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109
Phone:
818.354.2114
Fax:
818.393.4445
Email:

Pamela Conrad

Education
  • M. Phil Geology,The George Washington University (1995)
  • Ph.D. Geochemistry and Mineralogy, George Washington University (1998)
Research Interests
  • The quantitative assessment of habitability on Earth as it relates to potential habitability elsewhere in the solar system
  • The effects of the physical properties of minerals on the ecology and physiology of rock-dwelling organisms
  • The short-range remote sensing of chemical biosignatures
  • The stability and environmental distribution of chemical biosignatures
Available Postdoc Position

Habitability Assessment and Biosignature Detection
This position is aimed at understanding what features of planetary environments may make them habitable and how we might measure those features on Mars, the moon, or other destinations in the solar system. In addition to the fundamental research, the Postdoctoral Fellow will have an opportunity to participate in the development of instruments for the assessment of habitability or the detection of chemical biosignatures on in situ missions to other planets, development of next-generation space instrumentation concepts, mission concepts, and observations. The candidate should have or be close to completion of the Ph.D. in astrobiology, chemistry, physics, or geology and strong passion to undertake multidisciplinary research to explore Mars and other inner solar system environments. Experience and expertise in many of the following techniques is highly desirable: low-temperature techniques, laboratory ultraviolet and infrared spectroscopy, laser spectroscopies such as Raman spectroscopy and laser-induced native fluorescence.

Projects

MSL - Mars Science Laboratory Icon MSL - Mars Science Laboratory
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is scheduled to land a rover to Mars in 2012, with the goal of assessing the past and present habitability of the area it explores on Mars.

Professional Experience
  • Research Scientist, Astrobiology, Science Division, JPL (present)
  • Research faculty, University of Southern California, geobiology (present)
  • Visiting Investigator, Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington DC (present)
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington DC (1998)
  • Pre-doctoral Fellow, Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington DC (1994 -1998)
Selected Awards
  • JPL Solar System Exploration Programs Directorate and Mars Exploration Program Award for Outstanding Performance as a lead scientist (2004)
Selected Publications
  • Conad, P.G. (in press) Biogeochemistry through time: preservation of chemical biosignatures in the stratigraphic record as a measurable potential in Quantitative Approaches Towards Biogeochemistry: Processes, Scaling, and Interfaces (AJS Special Volume).
  • Conrad, P.G. (in press) Extraterrestrial life detection methods and tools. In Astrobiology, ed. By J. Baross and W. Sullivan, Cambridge University Press.
  • A. Lüttge and P.G. Conrad 2004, Direct Observation of Microbial Inhibition of Calcite Dissolution, App. and Env. Microbiology. 70,
  • D. W. Beaty, S. Miller, W. Zimmerman, J. Bada, P. Conrad, E. Dupuis, T. Huntsberger, R. Ivlev, S. S. Kim, B. G. Lee, D. Lindstrom, L. Lorenzoni, P. Mahaffy, K. McNamara, D. Papanastassiou, S. Patrick, S. Peters, N. Rohatgi, J. J. Simmonds, J. Spray, T. D. Swindle, L. Tamppari, A. Treiman, J. K. Wolfenbarger and A. Zent, 2004, Planning for a Mars in situ sample preparation and distribution (SPAD) system: Planetary and Space Science, v. 52, p. 55-66.
  • Kunz, M., Gillet P, Fiquet G, Sautter V, Graafsma H, Conrad P and Harris J (2002) Combined in situ X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy on majoritic garnet inclusions in diamonds, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 198: 485-493.
  • Conrad, P.G. and Nealson, K.H. (2001) A non-Earth-centric approach to life detection, Astrobiology, 1:1.
  • Nealson, K.H. and P.G. Conrad (2000) Metabolic Extremophiles: Surveying for Life Using Metabolic Guidelines, Proceedings of AIAA Space 2000, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA.
  • Nealson, K.H. and P.G. Conrad (1999) Life: past, present and future, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: 1923-1939.
  • Yang, H., L.W. Finger, P.G. Conrad, C.T. Prewitt and R.M. Hazen (1999) A new pyroxene structure at high pressure: single-crystal X-ray and Raman study of Pbcn-P21cn phase transition in protopyroxene 84:245-256.

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