Janice Bishop is a planetary scientist known for her research into the minerals found on

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

Education and career

In 1988, Bishop earned a B.S. in chemistry and an M.S. in Applied Earth Science from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. She earned her Ph.D. from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

in 1994 and then was a postdoctoral associate at the

German Aerospace Center The German Aerospace Center (, abbreviated DLR, literally ''German Center for Air- and Space-flight'') is the national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research of Germany, founded in 1969. It is headquartered in Cologne with 3 ...

in Berlin until 1997. From 1997 to 1999 she was a fellow at the National Aeronautics Space Agency (NASA) Ames Research Center before becoming a research scientist at the

SETI Institute The SETI Institute is a not-for-profit research organization incorporated in 1984 whose mission is to explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe, and to use this knowledge to inspire and guide present and futu ...

. Starting in 2015 she joined the Science Council at the SETI Institute and is a contractor at the NASA Ames Research Center. In 2020 she was elected a fellow of the

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, Atmospheric science, atmospheric, Oceanography, ocean, Hydrology, hydrologic, Astronomy, space, and Planetary science, planetary scientists and enthusiasts that ...

for:

Research

Bishop uses Raman spectroscopy to examine minerals that may be found on Mars and examines minerals on Earth that serve as proxies for conditions on Mars. Through this research Bishop has analyzed water in minerals such as montmorillonite and used

hyperspectral imaging Hyperspectral imaging collects and processes information from across the electromagnetic spectrum. The goal of hyperspectral imaging is to obtain the spectrum for each pixel in the image of a scene, with the purpose of finding objects, identifyi ...

to identify phyllosilicates on minerals from Earth. On Mars, Bishop's research revealed these phyllosilicates are indicative of the presence of water. In 2011, Bishop examined carbonate rocks in the Mojave Desert as an analogue for conditions that may occur on Mars and her subsequent research revealed the wide-spread presence of rocks with carbonate on Mars which could be indicative of potential life on Mars. Using data from instruments on the

Curiosity rover ''Curiosity'' is a car-sized Mars rover Space exploration, exploring Gale (crater), Gale crater and Mount Sharp on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. ''Curiosity'' was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ...

, Bishop and colleagues found presence of glauconitic clays which only form in bodies of water that remain still for long periods of time. In 2021, Bishop determined that dark streaks on Mars, called recurring slope lineae, can be the result of the interactions of sulfates and chlorine salts that absorb water, a condition that leads to landslides.

Selected publications

* * * *

Awards and honors

* Kavli Fellow (2008) * Helmholtz International Fellow Award (2013) *Marion L. and Chrystie M. Jackson Mid-Career Clay Scientist Award, The Clay Minerals Society (2016) * Fellow,

Geological Society of America The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. History The society was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hi ...

(2018) * Fellow,

Mineralogical Society of America The Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) is a scientific membership organization. MSA was founded in 1919 for the advancement of mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, and petrology, and promotion of their uses in other sciences, industry, ...

(2018) * Fellow,

(2020) * G. K. Gilbert Award for outstanding contributions to planetary geology (2021)

References

External links

* *, August 28, 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bishop, Janice Fellows of the American Geophysical Union Fellows of the Geological Society of America Brown University alumni Stanford University alumni Women planetary scientists Planetary scientists American geologists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Women geologists