Francis McCubbin
Planetary Scientist, High-temperature Geochemistry | NASA
Francis McCubbin
Planetary Scientist, High-temperature Geochemistry
NASA
Phone
281.483.5126
Phone
281.483.5126
Biography
Francis McCubbin is a planetary scientist and lead for Experimental Petrology within the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division at the Johnson Space Center. His research focuses on combining petrologic experimentation and sample analysis to understand the abundance, distribution and origin of water and other volatiles in the inner solar system, as well as deciphering the thermal and magmatic evolution of the terrestrial planets, moons and asteroids. Before coming to JSC, Francis spent five years as a research scientist at the Institute of Meteoritics at the University of New Mexico. Prior to that, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Geophysical Laboratory at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C.
Education
Ph.D.
Geosciences
Stony Brook University
2009
B.S.
Geology
Towson University
2004
Education
Ph.D., Geosciences, 2009
Stony Brook University
B.S., Geology, 2004
Towson University
Select Publications
McCubbin F.M. and Anzures B.A. (2025) Mercury. In Treatise on Geochemistry 3rd Edition Edited by D. Weis and A. Anbar. Elsevier, 257-287. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-99762-1.00109-1
Scheller E.L., Bosak T., McCubbin F.M., Williford K.H., Siljeström S., Jakubek R.S., Eckley S.A., Morris R.V., Bykov S.V., Kizovsky T., Asher S., Berger E.L., Bower D.M., Cardarelli E.L., Ehlmann B.L., Fornaro T., Fox A.C., Haney N.C., Hand K., Roppel R.D., Sharma S., Steele A., Uckert K., Yanchilina A., Beyssac O., Farley K.A., Henneke J., Heirwegh C., Pedersen D.A.K., Liu Y., Schmidt M.E., Sephton M., Shuster D., and Weiss B.P. (2024) Inorganic Interpretation of Luminescent Materials Encountered by the Perseverance Rover on Mars. Science Advances, 10, eadm8241. DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adm8241
Shearer C.K., McCubbin F.M., Eckley S., Simon S.B., Meshik A., McDonald F., Schmitt H.H., Zeigler R.A., Gross J., Mitchell J., Krysher C., Morris R.V., Parai R., Jolliff B.L., Gillis-Davis J.J., Joy K., Bell S.K., Lucey P., Sun L., Sharp Z., Dukes C, Sehlke A., Mosie A., Allton J., Amick C., Simon J., Erickson T.M., Barnes J.J., Dyar M., Burgess K., Petro N., Moriarty D., Curran N.M., Elsila J.E., Colina-Ruiz R.A., Kroll T., Sokaras D., Ishii H.A., Bradley J.P., Sears D., Cohen B., Pravdivseva O., Thompson M.S., Neal C.R., Hana R., Ketcham R., Welten K., and the ANGSA science team (2024) Apollo Next Generation Sample analysis (ANGSA): An Apollo participating scientist program to prepare the lunar sample community for Artemis. Space Science Reviews, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-024-01094-x
Boyce J.W., McCubbin F.M., Lunning N., Anderson T. (2024) Large carbonaceous chondrite parent bodies favored by abundance–volatility modeling: A possible chemical signature of pebble accretion. Planetary Science Journal, 5, 53, DOI 10.3847/PSJ/ad1830
Anzures B.A., McCubbin F.M., Erickson T.M., Jakubek R.S., Fries M.D., Le L. (2024) First widespread occurrence of rare phosphate chladniite in a meteorite, winonaite GRA 12510: implications for phosphide–phosphate redox buffered genesis in meteorites. American Mineralogist, 109, 1513-1522.
McCubbin F.M., Lewis J.A., Barnes J.J., Boyce J.W., Gross J., McCanta M.C., Srinivasan P., Anzures B.A., Lunning N.G., Elardo S.M., Keller L.P., Prissel T.C., and Agee C.B. (2023) On the origin of fluorine-poor apatite in chondrite parent bodies. American Mineralogist, 108, 1185-1200.
McCubbin F.M., Barnes J.J., Ni P., Hui H., Klima R.L., Burney D., Day J.M.D., Magna T., Boyce J.W., Tartèse R., Vander Kaaden K.E., Steenstra E., Elardo S.M., Zeigler R.A., Anand M., Liu Y. (2023) Endogenous Lunar Volatiles. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, 89, 729-786.
Iacovino, K., McCubbin F.M., Vander Kaaden K.E., Clark J., Wittmann A., Jakubek R.S., Moore G.M., Fries M.D., Archer D., Boyce J.W. (2023) Carbon as a key driver of super-reduced explosive volcanism on Mercury: Evidence from graphite-melt smelting experiments. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 602, 117908.