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Congratulations to alumnus Dr. Callum Walter, BSc'16, PhD'21, who will be joining the USGS and NASA for an exciting postdoctoral opportunity.  

Dr. Walter will begin this new venture later this fall where he’ll join the USGS - National Innovation Center and the NASA - Ames Research Center for Planetary Science, both based out of Moffett Field, California. 

According to Dr. Walter, "This is an opportunity of a lifetime, where I’ll be working to develop innovative geophysical techniques for off-world, in-situ resource surveying in support of NASA’s upcoming crewed Artemis missions to the Moon, Mars, and possibly beyond! The postdoc will mainly involve the development and testing of various geophysical techniques for the potential deployment onboard late-decade lunar missions to map near-surface deposits of water-ice in the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar south pole. This research will be in support of NASA’s Artemis missions to the Moon throughout the late 2020's, and potential future missions to Mars in the late 2030's. The first Artemis mission, Artemis I, is scheduled for lunch on August 29, 2022, and will be the first time NASA has sent a human-rated spacecraft in orbit around the moon since the end of the historic Apollo program 50 years ago. This is the start of my generation’s Apollo program, and I couldn’t be more excited to contribute to the science and engineering goals of the program through my background in applied geophysics. I’d like to thank everyone in the Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering that has helped to shape and support my academic career over the past 10 years leading up to this amazing opportunity."

The Artemis I launch originally scheduled for August 29, has since been postponed to Saturday, September 3. More information about the Artemis program can be found on the .

The official description for the post-doctoral position reads, "The USGS is partnering with NASA and the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (OUSD) for Research and Engineering to increase capabilities in off-world resource surveying. We propose to explore the utility and feasibility of geophysical techniques to characterize potential resources in the near subsurface of the Moon and Mars, improving our ability to detect, map, and characterize in-situ resources on planetary bodies in the Solar System. In particular, we are looking to test three hypotheses pertaining to the form and distribution of potential off-world in-situ resources: (1) water-ice, (2) metal-oxides, and (3) shallow subsurface stratigraphy" 

Congratulations, Dr. Walter, on this incredible accomplishment!