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Derek Sears

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Affiliation: NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) / Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI)

Email: Derek.Sears@nasa.gov

Phone: (650)604-5910

Professional Biography

Until summer 2011, I was University Professor, W. M. Keck Professor of Space and Planetary Science, and director of the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences at the University of Arkansas.  In the past, I have performed instrumental neutron activation analysis and electron microprobe analysis of meteorites.  I have also worked on the surface processes occurring on Mars, asteroids, and comets and have developed techniques to investigate these processes using microgravity and space simulation experiments.  My current research interests involve laboratory studies of extraterrestrial materials, especially meteorites and lunar samples, mostly using thermoluminescence and cathodoluminescence.  Other interests include the history of meteoritics and planetary science and educational outreach; I am currently the owner/editor of Meteorite magazine.

For thirty years I taught various chemistry courses at the undergraduate level and nuclear chemistry and cosmochemistry at the graduate level.  Between 1991 and 2001, I was Editor of the research journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science.  As director of the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences, I created REU, MS, and Ph.D. programs in space and planetary science. I have published three books and over 200 peer-reviewed research articles.

Experience:

University of Manchester, 1974-1977, Postdoctoral Research Assistant. The University of California at Los Angeles, 1979-1981, Assistant Research Chemist. University of Arkansas, 1981-1984, Assistant Professor; 1984-1988, Associate Professor; 1988-2005, Professor; 2005-present, University Professor. The Open University, UK, Jan.-Dec. 1987, Senior Research Fellow (OCDA).

Personal Life:

Date and Place of Birth: December 18, 1948, Maidstone, Kent, U.K.
Marital Status: wife and three sons.
Citizenship Status: U.S. Citizen

Education

University of Kent at Canterbury, 1970, B.Sc. (Chemistry)
University College London, 1971, Diploma in Space Science
University of Leicester, 1974, Ph.D. (Astronomy/Geology)

Research Interests

Current Projects and Interests:

Studies of radiogenic, cosmogenic, shock and metamorphic effects in meteorites by thermoluminescence techniques. Thermodynamic models for the origin of meteorites, analysis of meteorites by neutron activation and electron-beam techniques. Physical and chemical processes occurring on the surfaces of small planetary bodies and Mars.

Awards and Others

Research Fellow, University of Birmingham, 1977-1979
Fellow of the Meteoritical Society, 1988
University of Arkansas, Haliburton Research Award, 1991
University of Arkansas, Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award, Research and Service, 1999.
Asteroid named Sears, 2001.
W. M. Keck Professorship in Space and Planetary Sciences, 2005.
Meteoritical Society Award for Service (Editorship of the Society’s Journal), 2009.
Listed in: American Men and Women of Science, Dictionary of International Biography, Men of Achievement, Who’s Who in the South and Southwest, Who’s Who of Emerging Leaders in America, Who’s Who in American Education, Who’s Who in Science and Engineering, Five Thousand Personalities of the World, Strathmore’s Who’s Who, Who’s Who in the World.

Websites

Research Link: http://www.uark.edu/depts/cosmo/