"It has been said that the primary function of schools is to impart enough facts to make children stop asking questions. Some, with whom the schools do not succeed, become scientists"
(opening words of The Camel's Nose by Knut Schmidt-Nielsen).

People:

David Catling

Professor, Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences / Astrobiology Program, at the University of Washington (UW), Seattle, USA

Adjunct Prof., UW Dept of Atmospheric Sciences.

Areas of research:

The Coupled Evolution of Planetary Surfaces and Atmospheres; Planetary Atmospheres and Climate.

The Origin of Life; Evolution of the Earth's Atmosphere and the Co-evolution of Life and Biogeochemical Cycles; Astrobiology.

Involvement with NASA's missions to the planet Mars :

Data analysis from the Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey orbiters
Science Team member for NASA's Phoenix lander (landed on Mars in 2008)
Science Team member for NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover (landed on Mars in 2021)

Working within the Virtual Planetary Lab of NASA's Astrobiology Institute to understand the habitability of Earth and other planets.

An investigator with the Simons Collaboration on the Origin of Life. See my project page with the Simons Foundation.

My academic family tree back about a century

Advisor-advisee tree based on post-doctoral, PhD, masters and undergrad research advisors and their advisees. Hopefully, a few little crumbs of wisdom have passed down this tree to me.

Brief Bio

2012-present: Professor, University of Washington, Seattle.

2018-present: Associate Chair for the Graduate Program, Dept. of Earth & Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle.

Spring-Summer 2018:

Leverhulme Visiting Professor, Dept. of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, England;
Visiting Fellow, Darwin College, Cambridge, England.

2017-2018: Senior Research Visitor, European Southern Observatory, Santiago, Chile

2009-2012: Associate Professor, Univ. of Washington

2005-2008: European Union Marie Curie Chair at the University of Bristol, England & Affiliate professor, Univ. of Washington.

2001: Jointly appointed to University of Washington Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences and Astrobiology Program

1995-2001: NASA Ames Research Center, California, in the Planetary Systems Branch, Space Science Division

1994: D.Phil in Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, University of Oxford, England.

Some key co-workers

Kevin Zahnle (NASA Ames Research Center) - on astrobiology
Jon Toner (Dept. Earth and Space Sciences) -- on the habitability of cold solar system environments: Mars, Enceladus, etc.
Roger Buick (University of Washington, Earth and Space Sciences) - on early Earth and astrobiology
Vikki Meadows (UW Astronomy) -- leads the Virtual Planetary Lab & Univ. of Washington's astrobiology program
Tyler Robinson (Northern Arizona University) - on planetary atmospheres
Giles Marion (Emeritus, Desert Research Institute) - on aqueous solutions on Mars, and outer planet moons
David Montgomery (University of Washington, Earth and Space Sciences) - on the geology of Mars

   Current postdoctoral researchers:

    Ardith Bravenec (Dept. of Earth & Space Sciences)
    Sebastian Haas (Dept. of Earth & Space Sciences)
    Zoe Todd (Dept. of Earth & Space Sciences)

    Current graduate students

    Lauren O'Neil (Dept. of Earth & Space Sciences/ Astrobiology)
    Nick Wogan (Dept. of Earth & Space Sciences/ Astrobiology)
    Lucas Fifer (Dept. of Earth & Space Sciences/ Astrobiology)

    Andrew Shumway (Dept. of Earth & Space Sciences/ Astrobiology)
    Ping-Chun Lin (Dept. of Earth & Space Sciences/ Astrobiology)
    Kimberley Sinclair (Dept. of Earth & Space Sciences/     Astrobiology)

    Trent Thomas (Dept. of Earth & Space Sciences/ Astrobiology)
    Danqiu Chen (Dept. of Earth & Space Sciences/Astrobiology(
    Zack Cohen (Dept. of Chemistry/ Astrobiology) -- co-advised with         Prof. Sarah Keller
    Yuk-Chun Chan (Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences/ Astrobiology) -             co-advised with Becky Alexander

   Former Ph.D and M.S. students:
   Where are they now?

    Mark Claire (2008 PhD) Reader, Univ. of St. Andrews
    Scotland.
    Elliot Sefton-Nash (2010 PhD) Planetary Scientist, European
    Space Agency, European Space Research & Technology Centre
    (ESTEC), Noordwijk, Netherlands.
    Sanjoy Som (2010 PhD) - Research Scientist & Director, Blue
    Marble Space. Also at NASA Ames Research Center
    Megan Smith (2015 MS) - Technical staff, Aerospace Corp.,
    El Segundo, Los Angeles, CA

Erik Goosmann (2018 MS) - Data Analyst, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)
Josh Krissansen-Totton (2019, PhD) NASA Sagan Fellow, University of California at Santa Cruz
Steven Sholes (2019, PhD) - postdoctoral researcher, NASA JPL
Owen Lehmer (2020, PhD) - research scientist, NASA Ames Research Center

Former postdoctoral researchers:
Where are they now?

Shintaro Kadoya (2017-2021), Research Fellow, JAMSTEC (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology), Japan.
MacKenzie Day (2017-2018), Assistant Professor, University of California, Los Angeles

Benjamin Charnay (2014-16) - Researcher with CNRS ( Centre national de la recherche scientifique), at LESIA, the Paris Observatory in Meudon, France.
Phil Pogge von Strandmann (2009-11) - Reader, University College London
Julien Foriel (2005-8) - Researcher/ Lab Manager, Tokyo Tech University

Former undergraduate researchers:
Where are they now?

MacKenzie Day (2010) - UCLA faculty, after PhD U Texas, Austin & postdoc
David Bergsman (2009-2010) - PhD (Stanford); postdoc MIT; Assistant Prof, Dept. Chem. Engineering, Univ. of Washington,
Meelis Lootus (2007-8) - Univ. of Oxford DPhil in 2015. Machine Learning Engineer at doc.ai
Chris Glein (2004-5) - Research Scientist, Southwest Research Inst.
Carie Frantz (2004) - Assistant Prof., Weber State University, UT.
Elliott Ginder (2002-2004) - Associate Professor, Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan; PhD from Kanazawa University.
Cindy Peacock (2003-2004) - was a Chemist at NOAA.
Charlie Barnhart (2003) - Associate Professor, Western Washington University.
Joannah Metz (2001) - Caltech PhD (2010). Geoscientist, Shell Oil.
Carol Paty (2000) - Associate Professor, University of Oregon, Eugene.
Hillary Waites (1997) - Climate change attorney, Santa Clara, CA.

People

Publications

People: