Bethany Ehlmann is a participating scientist on the NASA Mars Rover Curiosity mission, a research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and assistant professor of planetary science at Caltech. She explores our solar system, seeking to understand its history over billions of years of geologic time and searching for habitable environments for life.

Dr. Ehlmann has a joint position as an assistant professor of planetary science at the California Institute of Technology and as a research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, both in Pasadena, CA. Bethany has a Ph.D. and M.S. in Geological Sciences from Brown University, an M.S. in both Geography and Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford (where she was a Rhodes Scholar), and a B.A. in both Earth and Planetary Sciences and Environmental Studies from Washington University in St. Louis. Before obtaining her current position at Caltech/JPL, Bethany was a Marie Curie Fellow at the Institut dAstrophysique Spatiale in Paris.

Bethanys research interests are in environmental change, remote analysis of rocks and soils on planetary surfaces, and space policy. She is particularly interested in the geologic history of Mars and the causes of environmental change on that planet.

Professors, Geology, NASA, National geographic, Planetary Science,