Dr. Penelope Boston is Director of the Cave & Karst Studies Program and Professor and Chair of the Earth & Environmental Sciences Department at the New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology in Socorro, NM. Boston is also Associate Director for Academics of the National Cave & Karst Research Institute in Carlsbad, NM. Her research includes geomicrobiology and astrobiology in extreme environments (especially caves and mines), speleogenetic (cave-forming) processes on other planets, and human space exploration. She is author of over 150 technical and popular publications, editor of 4 volumes and author of an upcoming popular book. Her work has been featured in ~200 print and broadcast media venues over the past 20 years including a number of expeditions covered by National Geographic Society print and broadcast divisions. Boston is recipient of the 2010 Science Award of the National Speleological Society USA, fellow of the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, past President of the Association of Mars Explorers, and 2013 recipient of the David P. McKay Memorial Life on Mars Award. She serves on the NASA Planetary Protection Subcommittee, the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts External Council, and the National Research Council Space Studies Board. Boston is currently serving on the working group reassessing Special Regions on Mars.

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