Alfred McEwen

Dr. McEwen is Professor in the Department of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona, and Director of the Planetary Image Research Lab (PIRL).  He has studied planetary surfaces for more than 30 years, including time at the U.S. Geological Survey prior to joining UA in 1996. Research interests include volcanology, cratering, slope processes, and remote sensing of planetary surfaces. He was awarded NASA’s distinguished public service medal, NASA’s highest form of recognition to non-Government employees, in 2011 (3 years before William Shatner got his medal).  He received the American Geophysical Union Planetary Sciences section Whipple award in 2015, and also became a Galileo Circle Fellow at UA’s College of Science in 2015.  McEwen has over 200 peer-reviewed publications, with topics split roughly 50:50 between the inner and outer Solar System.  His experience with spacecraft science experiments includes Voyager, Galileo, Clementine, Cassini, Mars Observer/MGS, Mars Odyssey, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, and, most notably, he has been PI of the High resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter since 2001, and is the Deputy-PI of the Europa Imaging System (EIS) for the new (unnamed) Europa mission.  In 2016 he became chair of NASA’s Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG).