Carter Personal Statement

I explore planets. This requires knowledge of the astrophysics of the Sun, chemistry of comets, geology of rocky planets, atmospheric dynamics of gaseous planets, mineralogy of meteorites, and the biochemistry of life.

By its very nature, planetary science is interdisciplinary. Planetary scientists have academic backgrounds as diverse as the afore-mentioned research fields. "Interdisciplinary" is not a buzzword or a passing fad in planetary science, but an absolute necessity. For example, planetary scientists studying the atmosphere of Venus were among the first to discuss the greenhouse effect and atmospheric chemistry of halogens, which are the keys to global warming and the ozone hole on the Earth, respectively.

In my first two years as a graduate student, my research projects have included analysing dynamics of the martian upper atmosphere, investigating medieval chronicles for evidence for a recent large impact on the Moon, mapping previously undiscovered ridges and folds on the martian surface, modelling asteroid shapes, and testing simple climate models.

I think I will be a better scientist if I maintain this research breadth in the future, rather than narrowly focusing on, for example, weather on Venus or erosion on Mars. The Carter Interdisciplinary Fellowship will help me do that. It will fund me to pursue projects that are not directly related to my academic advisor's focused research grants.

I hope to finish my PhD in the next few years by completing a couple of my current research projects. During that time, I also want to initiate some small research projects in areas I have not yet studied, like the nature of planets outside our solar system or telescopic studies within our solar system. My aim is that these will be learning experiences, ones that will not necessarily be included in my final thesis, but ones which will help me in the future.

Teaching and research are closely related. In a field that is evolving as rapidly as planetary science, where each new spacecraft mission changes our understanding of the solar system, familiarity with current research is essential for teaching. Having satisfied my department's teaching requirements, I am unlikely to serve as a formal teaching assistant in my final years of PhD research. However, I want to continue telling people how fascinating studying planets can be. Traditional teaching assistant roles in my department are limited to grading and holding office hours in general education classes but I hope to deliver occasional lectures in these classes and lead some discussions in our freshman colloquium series. These experiences will make me much better prepared for teaching at the faculty level.

Planetary exploration cannot occur without public support, and galvanising that support is something that I must become involved in as I become a working planetary scientist. Luckily, it is easy to make planetary science accessible and important to a general audience. It is made accessible by the basic nature of the questions planetary science tries to answer, questions like "Are there earthquakes on Mars?", "Why do we have a Moon?", and "Are there planets around other stars?" The importance becomes clear when given answers like "We don't know, but finding out would help us understand earthquakes here on Earth", "We think it's was formed in a huge asteroid impact on the Earth many years ago, but if it wasn't there our climate would be much less hospitable to life", and "We know they exist, but don't even know how large they are, much less what they look like." Once I have started publishing my research in professional journals, and feel like I am a real scientist, then I hope to give some talks in the local community and write some articles for a local paper. For me, it's important to explain to people what their taxes are being spent on, and why.

My plans for after graduate school are firm in my mind. I came to Tucson from Great Britain to study planetary science because there was very little planetary science happening in Great Britain and the Planetary Sciences Department here is the best in the world [Visiting Committee Report, 1997]. In 2003 a British spacecraft will land on Mars. It will study the soil and atmosphere for traces of extant or extinct life, photograph the landscape, and record the weather. Britain has never flown an interplanetary spacecraft before and a successful mission would help planetary science in Britain like nothing else I can imagine. If it fails, it may be a generation before Britain makes a comparable commitment to planetary science. If it suceeds, it is likely that government support in Britain for planetary science would drastically increase. 

When I graduate, I want to help make it a success.