I grew up in upstate New York, but now call the Southwest home. Here in the Southwest, it’s nearly always sunny and you can always see the rocks. Growing up, I wasn’t very interested in science until I took chemistry in high school. Then I randomly took a geology class in college, and finally started thinking about rocks and everything they can tell you about the history of our planet. I turned my sights to other planets for my graduate work and have worked on the geochemistry and geochronology (age dating) of Moon rocks, Mars rocks, and meteorites ever since. In 2005, I jumped at a chance to join the Mars Exploration Rover project and am surprised at how much I enjoy working on spacecraft operations on Mars.
