Achievement

One of our faculty, Prof. Montgomery (Earth & Space Sciences), was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship for his work on natural and human-caused processes on Earth and Mars that shape the land and affect the surface of any planet. In particular water and ice-driven erosional processes on Earth today (and on Mars in the past) greatly influence the habitability of any terrain. For example, during this year Montgomery and his students analyzed images and spectral data to interpret ancient erosional features on Mars, in particular Valles Marineris, a huge canyon, and its outflow channels. They published a major article arguing that geothermal heating of massive underground, salt and ice deposits probably led to the large tectonic features visible at the surface.