The Mission Team

Profile: Michael Meyer

Michael Meyer
Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Michael Meyer is the Program Scientist for the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission and the Senior Scientist for Astrobiology at NASA Headquarters. As the program scientist he is responsible developing the mission science requirements and then working with the mission scientists and engineers to maximize the science returned from the mission. Meyer's other major activity is the Astrobiology Program, NASA's growing research program in the study of the life in the universe.

Meyer has been the Program Scientist for the Mars Microprobe mission and for two Shuttle/Mir experiments. He was also the Planetary Protection Officer for NASA, responsible for mission compliance to NASA's policy concerning forward and back contamination during planetary exploration. Before NASA, Meyer was an assistant research professor at the Desert Research Institute and an associate director and associate in research for the Polar Desert Research Center at Florida State University. Meyer pursued research in microorganisms living in extreme environments such as the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, Siberia, and the Canadian Arctic. He is also a veteran of six research expeditions to Antarctica. His experience also includes two summers working as a treasure salvager off the coasts of Florida and North Carolina. Dr. Meyer earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in oceanography from Texas A&M University his B.S. in biology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

"I have been extraordinarily fortunate in the opportunities to do research from oceans to deserts to space, all in pursuit of fundamental questions about our beginnings and our place in the Universe" exclaims Meyer, "and when you consider the wonderful people I work with, I can't think of a better job".