Skip Navigation
Search for People:
Search for Projects:

Matthew Siegler

Photo of Matthew Siegler

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive
M/S 183-601

Pasadena, CA 91109

Phone:

818.393.0948

Fax:

818.354.2494

Member of:

Affiliates

Biography

Dr. Matt Siegler grew up in the small town of Wayne, Illinois. Starting with a love for magnets on Brio trains, he developed a deep interest in all sorts of science, fostered by a supportive family and lots of documentaries. This lead to an odd double major in Physics and Film at Cornell University. After graduation, he spent a year working at CERN, then moved to California to study ice on the Moon, Mars, and Mercury. He completed graduate school with David Paige at UCLA in 2011. He currently works on the Diviner Lunar Radiometer on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, thermal and ice stability modeling of the inner solar system, and on the upcoming InSight geophysical mission to Mars. He and his wife, Rita, also just welcomed their first child, Jackson, to this planet in August 2013.

Education

  • Ph.D., Geophysics and Space Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, (2011)
  • B.A., Double major: Physics (astronomy, concentration) and Film (production), Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, (2003)

Professional Experience

  • Staff Research Scientist, Geophysics and Planetary Geosciences, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (2013 - Present)
  • Postdoc Scholar, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California (2012 - 2013)
  • Graduate Research and Teaching Assistantship, UCLA (2005 - 2011)

Community Service

Dr. Siegler is a weekend museum guide at the Griffith Observatory as well as other work with public science education, including work on PHDtv and the upcoming Cosmos sequel.

Research Interests

  • Subsurface temperatures and volatile stability of the Moon and other bodies
  • Regolith structure and thermal properties
  • Interior heat flow of solid planets

Selected Awards

  • NASA Group Achievement Award, Diviner Lunar Radiometer Science Mission Team (2013)
  • Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Group Achievement Award, Diviner Lunar Radiometer (2011)
  • NASA Lunar Science Institute Forum Student Poster Competition 2nd place (2010)
  • Best Presentation Award, ESSSO Research Symposium (2009)
  • Vice President, Social Chair, Earth and Space Science Student Organization, UCLA (2007-2010)
  • President, Society for Physics Students, Cornell University (2001-2003)
  • John S. Knight Writing Institute Spencer Portfolio Award (2000)

Selected Publications

  1. Siegler, M.A.; Smrekar,S. (2013b) Lunar Heat Flow: Regional Prospective of the Apollo Landing sites, Submitted, 2013, JGR Planets.
  2. Siegler, M. A.; Bills, B. G.; Paige, D. A. (2013a) Long term climate variability of Mercury's Poles, JGR Planets, VOL. 118, 1-8, doi:10.1002/jgre.20070.
  3. Paige, D.A., Siegler, M.A., Harmon, J.K., Neumann, G.A. , Mazarico, E.M., Smith, D.E., Zuber, M.T., Harju, E., Delitsky, M.L., and Solomon, S.C. (2013) Thermal stability of volatiles in the north polar region of Mercury- Science, MESSENGER Special Issue, doi 10.1126/science.1231106.
  4. Siegler M.A., Aharonson O., Choukroun M., Hudson T., Schorghofer N., Xu S. (2012) Measurements of thermal properties of icy Mars regolith analogs, JGR Planets VOL. 117, E03001, 24 PP., doi:10.1029/2011JE003938
  5. Siegler M.A., Bills B.G., Paige D.A. (2011) Effects of orbital evolution on lunar ice stability, JGR Planets VOL. 116, E03010, doi:10.1029/2010JE003652
  6. Paige D.A., Siegler M.A., Zhang J.A., Hayne P.O., ...,et.al. (2010) Diviner Observations of Cold Traps in the Lunar South Polar Region: Spatial Distribution and Temperature, Science.
  7. Hayne, P. O., Greenhagen B.T., Foote M., Siegler M.A.,Vasavada A.R. , Paige D.A. (2010), Diviner Lunar Radiometer Observations of the LCROSS Impact, Science, Science.
  8. Vasavada, A, R. Bandfield L., Greenhagen B., Hayne P., Siegler M., Williams J., and Paige, D.(2012) Lunar equatorial surface temperatures and regolith properties from the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment - JGR in press (Publication)