The Mission Team |
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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".
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