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Benjamin Byron

Photo of Benjamin Byron

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, CA 91109

Curriculum Vitae:

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Member of:

Planetary Interiors and Geophysics

Biography

Ben completed a B.S. in Physics from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2014, and then received a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2020. During his Ph.D. program he was a member of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) team, performing research at the Southwest Research Institute under the direction of his dissertation advisor Dr. Kurt Retherford. His doctoral research focused on the effects of space weathering and other surface processes/properties on the far-UV reflectance of the lunar regolith as observed by LRO LAMP. His current research involves investigating the thermophysical properties of the lunar surface with the Diviner Lunar Radiometer instrument onboard LRO.

Education

  • Ph.D, Physics, University of Texas at San Antonio, 2020
  • M.S., Physics, University of Texas at San Antonio, 2018
  • B.S., Physics, University of Texas at Dallas, 2014

Professional Experience

  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2020-present
  • Graduate Research Assistant, University of Texas at San Antonio/Southwest Research Institute, 2016-2020
  • Summer Intern, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Intern 2017
  • Undergraduate Researcher, University of Texas at Dallas, 2013-2014

Research Interests

  • Regolith surface processes/properties of airless planetary bodies
  • Far-ultraviolet spectroscopy
  • Lunar space weathering

Selected Publications

  1. Byron, B. D., Retherford, K. D., Greathouse, T. K., Wyrick, D., Cahill, J. T. S., Hendrix, A. R., et al. (2020). Far-UV Observations of Lunar Rayed Craters with LRO-LAMP. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 125. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JE006269
  2. Byron, B. D., Retherford, K. D., Greathouse, T. K., Mandt, K. E., Hendrix, A. R., Poston, M. J., ... & Mazarico, E. (2019). Effects of Space Weathering and Porosity on the Far‐UV Reflectance of Amundsen Crater. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 124(3), 823-836. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JE005908​
  3. Hue, V., Gladstone, G. R., Greathouse, T. K., Kammer, J. A., Davis, M. W., Bonfond, B., Versteeg, M. H., Grodent, D. C., Gérard, J.‐C., Bolton, S. J., Levin, S. M., & Byron, B. D. (2019). In‐flight characterization and calibration of the Juno‐ultraviolet spectrograph (Juno‐UVS). The Astronomical Journal, 157, 90