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Christopher M. Heirwegh

Photo of Christopher Heirwegh

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive
M/S 183-301

Pasadena, CA 91109

Phone:

626-807-5420

Fax:

818-292-4445

Curriculum Vitae:

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Member of:

Laboratory Studies

Biography

Chris is an applied physicist with expertise in the physics fundamentals of X-ray spectroscopy and its application to geo-chemical in situ planetary exploration. While at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Canada, Chris conducted beamline research, with international participants, in the PIXE Group, to support analysis of data returned from the Curiosity Rover’s alpha-particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS).

Upon arrival at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, Chris led the elemental calibration effort for NASA’s Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL). He also served as science and engineering liaison during PIXL’s critical integration and testing phase of development. Chris now serves the Mars 2020 mission as Operations Manager for the PIXL team and leads a research group dedicated to refining analysis techniques used to process PIXL data. For exceptional achievements made as both science-engineering liaison and science operations manager, Chris is the twice recipient of JPL’s prestigious Voyager Award.

Chris is also a co-developer of PIXL’s open source XRF Quantification software, PIQUANT, that is used by the PIXL team to process PIXL data. Chris has been a part of three New Technology Releases filed at JPL for his involvement in the development of both PIQUANT and PIXL’s data visualization (PIXLISE) software.

As a resident subject matter expert in X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy at JPL, Chris participates in several instrument concept development projects that may be proposed for future missions. Technologies include pyroelectric X-ray sources, a hybrid PIXL-SHERLOC instrument for the Mars Sample Return (MSR) effort, and high-resolution spectroscopy instrumentation for outer moon in situ chemical analysis.

Education

  • Ph.D. Applied Physics, University of Guelph (2014)
  • M.Sc. Medical Physics, McMaster University (2009)
  • B.Sc. Science, McMaster University (2004)

Professional Experience

  • PIXL Science Operations Manager, JPL (2021 – present)
  • Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (2018 – present)
  • Sessional Lecturer, University of Guelph (2015, 2021)
  • JPL Postdoctoral Scholar, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (2018)
  • Caltech Postdoctoral Fellow, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (2016 – 2018)
  • Postdoctoral Fellow in Physics, University of Guelph (2014 – 2016)
  • Research Assistant (doctorate), University of Guelph (2009 – 2014)
  • Research Assistant (masters), McMaster University (2006 – 2008)

Community Service

Chris serves as an academic reviewer for articles written within the field of X-ray spectroscopy from journals: Icarus, the Journal of Synchrotron Radiation, Advances in X-ray Analysis, Nuclear Instruments and Methods A and B and X-ray Spectrometry.

In the wake of the Perseverance Rover landing, Chris has participated in multiple interviews and has delivered several public talks to share his experience on the Mars 2020 mission.

Chris also lends his expertise in radiation and radiation detection as a reviewer for NASA proposals for technology and instrument development.

Research Interests

  • X-ray fluorescence (XRF) instrumentation in planetary science
  • X- and γ-ray semiconductor detector physics
  • X-ray fundamental parameters accuracy and effects on analysis
  • High resolution XRF spectroscopy
  • Medical physics applications of radiation

Selected Awards

  • Session Chair & Invited Speaker – 71st Denver X-ray Conference, Bethsede, Maryland, 2022
  • Voyager Award – For excellent leadership and growth in a new role managing PIXL science operations, JPL, 2022
  • Team Award – PIXL ops development and testing leading to successful commissioning, JPL 2021
  • Voyager Award – For exceptional achievement as Science-Engineering Liaison, JPL, 2021
  • Invited Speaker – European X-ray Spec. Assoc. Virtual Meeting, Budapest, Hungary, 2021
  • Invited Speaker – 70th Denver X-ray Conference (virtual), Westminster, Colorado, 2021
  • Certificate of Recognition - Dedication to completion of PXL Flight Sensor Assembly, JPL, 2020
  • Invited Speaker – Physics Dept. Colloquium, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada, 2020

Selected Publications

  • C. M. Heirwegh, W. T. Elam, L. P. O’Neil, K. P. Sinclair, A. Das, The Focused Beam X-ray Fluorescence Elemental Quantification Software Package PIQUANT, Spectrochim. Acta B, 196 (2022) 106520. doi:10.1016/j.sab.2022.106520.
  • W.T. Elam, C.M. Heirwegh, PIQUANT (Version 3.2.11) [Open source computer software] Zenodo. (2022) doi:10.5281/zenodo.6959225
  • D. A. K. Pedersen, C. C. Liebe, J. Henneke, J. L. Jørgensen, R. Sharrow, T. Setterfield, L. Wade, M. Sondheim, M. Foote, W. T. Elam, C. M. Heirwegh, J. Hurowitz, A. Allwood, Pre-flight Geometric and Optical Calibration of the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL), Space Sci. Rev. 219, 11. doi:10.1007/s11214-023-00955-1
  • B. J. Orenstein, D. T. Flannery, L. W. Casey, W. T. Elam, C. M. Heirwegh, M. W. M. Jones, A statistical approach to removing diffraction from X-ray fluorescence spectra. Spectrochimica Acta B, 200, 106603. doi:10.1016/j.sab.2022.106603
  • Y. Liu, M. M. Tice, M. E. Schmidt, A. H. Treiman, T. V. Kizovski, J. A. Hurowitz, J. Henneke, D. A. K. Pedersen, S. J. VanBommel, M. W. M. Jones, et al., An olivine cumulate outcrop on the floor of Jezero crater, Mars, Science, 377 (2022) 515 – 1519. 2022. doi:10.1126/science.abo2756
  • S. J. VanBommel, J. A. Berger, E. B. Rampe, C. M. Heirwegh, Chp. 11: In-Situ X-ray Spectrometers in Space Exploration, in Advances in Portable X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry: Instrumentation, Application and Interpretation. Royal Society of Chemistry (2023). doi:10.1039/9781839162695-00298
  • C. M. Heirwegh, Y. Liu, B. C. Clark, W. T. Elam, L. P. O’Neil, K. P. Sinclair, M. Tice, J. A. Hurowitz, A. C. Allwood, Calibrating the PIXL Instrument for Elemental Analysis of Mars, 52nd LPSC (2021) Abstract 1260.
  • J. L. Campbell, D. J. T. Cureatz, E. L. Flannigan, C. M. Heirwegh, J. A. Maxwell, J. L. Russell, S. M. Taylor, The Guelph PIXE Software Package V. Nucl. Instrum. Meth. B., 499 (2021) 77 – 88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2021.05.004
  • S. J. VanBommel, J. A. Berger, E. B. Rampe, C. M. Heirwegh, Chp. 11: In-Situ X-ray Spectrometers in Space Exploration, in Advances in Portable X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry: Instrumentation, Application and Interpretation. Royal Society of Chemistry (2023). doi:10.1039/9781839162695-00298
  • A. C. Allwood, L. A. Wade, M. C. Foote, et al., PIXL: Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry, Space Sci. Rev. 216 (2020) 134. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00767-7
  • A. C. Allwood, M. T. Rosing, D. T. Flannery, J. A. Hurowitz, C. M. Heirwegh, “Reassessing Evidence of Life in 3,700 million year old rocks of Greenland,” Nature 563 (2018) 241 – 244.
  • https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0759-x
  • C. M. Heirwegh, W. T. Elam, D. T. Flannery, A. C. Allwood, An empirical derivation of the x-ray optic transmission profile used in calibrating the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) for Mars 2020, Powder Diffraction Journal 33 (2018) 162 – 165.
  • https://doi.org/10.1017/S0885715618000416
  • C. M. Heirwegh, M. Petric, S. Fazinić, M. Kavčič, I. Božičević Mihalić, J. Schneider, I. Zamboni, J. L. Campbell, Multiple ionization X-ray satellites of Mg, Al and Si in alpha particle PIXE, Nucl. Instrum. Meth. B. 428 (2018) 9 – 16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2018.05.005