Samuel Lawrence, PhD

I've had a lifelong fascination with space and the American space program. My family did all they could to nurture my interest, including checking out every space-related library book in the Detroit Public Library system and frequent visits to the former Michigan Space Center in Jackson, MI. I'd always planned on being an aerospace engineer. However, as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan I realized that the real challenge (relatively speaking) wasn't building rockets or getting to space, it was solving the scientific problems (such as the best places to find the oxygen and water that will enable the human settlement of the solar system...) that you find when you get there. This prompted me to change course slightly and become a geologist. I like geology (and especially planetary geology) because it's such a challenging, integrated field, combining aspects of physics, chemistry, computer science, aerospace engineering, and (occasionally) biology. My research interests include the petrology and geochemistry of planetary materials, lunar geology, the composition of planetary surfaces, the origin and evolution of the asteroid belt, and the location and processing of space resources on the Moon and asteroids.