Rosaly Lopes

Background

About Rosaly Lopes

Dr. Rosaly M. C. Lopes is a Senior Research Scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Editor-in-Chief for the planetary science journal Icarus (Elsevier). Dr. Lopes was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and moved to London, England, to study Astronomy at the University of London (University College). For her doctoral studies, she specialized in planetary geology and volcanology and completed her Ph. D. in Planetary Science in 1986. Her major research interests are in planetary and terrestrial geology and volcanology. After postdoctoral studies, she became a JPL employee and a member of the Galileo Flight Project, a mission to Jupiter. She was responsible for observations of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io from 1996 to 2001, using Galileo's Near-infrared Mapping Spectrometer. During this exciting period of her career, she discovered 71 active volcanoes on Io, for which she was honored in the 2006 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records as the discoverer of the most active volcanoes anywhere. Dr. Lopes worked on the Cassini mission to Saturn from 2002 until 2018. She is currently studying data acquired by Cassini, in particular, the geology and potential habitability of Saturn's largest moon, Titan as a Principal Investigator in NASA’s Astrobiology Institute, leading an international team. She has received many honors for her contributions to the studies of volcanism on Earth and the planets, including Fellow of the GSA, and AGU, elected member of the International Academy of Astronautics, two NASA Exceptional Public Service medals, the Adler Planetarium’s Women in Science award, the Antarctica Medal from the NSF, Lowell Thomas medal from the Explorers Club, Wings Women of Discovery Air and Space award (2009), the American Astronomical Society's Carl Sagan medal, and Asteroid (22454) Rosalylopes. Dr Lopes has taken many leadership roles in the scientific community. She currently serves as President of the American Geophysical Union’s Planetary Science Section. Dr. Lopes has written 135 peer-reviewed scientific publications and published eight books. She is a strong supporter of education, diversity, and outreach, nationally and internationally. She has given numerous public lectures in the US and abroad, on every continent including Antarctica. She has been active in the media, giving hundreds of interviews, and has been featured on over twenty TV documentaries. Specialties: Research, Planning space missions and operations, management of science projects and scientists