Joseph Schools

Joe is a planetary geodynamicist working in the JPL Planetary Interiors and Geophysics group, funded through a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowship. He received his B.S. in Earth and Planetary Sciences (with a concentration in Planetary Sciences) from the University of California, Santa Cruz is 2014. He then earned his PhD in Geology from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2020, working with advisor Dr. Laurent Montési. Joe’s doctoral research focused on modeling the behavior of molten rock in the interior of Mars and Jupiter’s moon Io, and linking results to observations of surface volcanism in order to constrain the structure and history of both bodies’ interiors. His current research involves modeling the formation of volcanic-tectonic features on Venus known as corona and investigating processes responsible for the apparent young surface of Venus. Originally from southern California, Joe attended JPL open houses as a child and is excited to be living his childhood dreams.