Biography

Dr. Sarah Simpson is a geologist and planetary scientist in the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) division. Dr. Simpson has one foot on Earth and the other on Mars; her work combines terrestrial impact research with observations on the mineralogy and alteration history of the Martian surface through her participation as a member of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover CheMin (X-ray diffraction) science team. She is particularly interested in how impact cratering has shaped the surface of planetary bodies such as Earth and Mars to create habitable environments through water-rock interaction, and how impact cratering processes and products transform, redistribute and preserve carbonaceous material such as macromolecular carbon and graphite in primary and secondary phases (e.g., glass, clay minerals).