Maria Banks is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.

Maria Banks received a Ph.D. in geology and planetary science from the University of Arizona. Her graduate studies primarily involved the study of glaciers and ice sheets, climate change, and ice-related erosional and depositional landforms on Earth and Mars. As a graduate student, Banks worked with imagery of the Martian surface acquired by the High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) onboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). She was also a member of the Phoenix Mars Mission team, and participated in the MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) mission to Mercury.

Banks is currently a postdoctoral fellow with CEPS. In addition to her interests in glaciers and climate change, she is studying tectonic features on the Moon using imagery from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Banks also continues to participate in the MESSENGER and MRO missions.

Banks recently completed several months of fieldwork in Antarctica as a science technician with the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide Ice Core Project.

Environment, Science, Climate Change, Geology, Planetary Science, Scientists