Sciences and Exploration Directorate

Amy Catherine Mcadam

(RESEARCH AST, PLANETARY STUDIES)

Amy Catherine Mcadam's Contact Card & Information.
Email: amy.mcadam-1@nasa.gov
Phone: 301.614.6020
Org Code: 699
Address:
NASA/GSFC
Mail Code 699
Greenbelt, MD 20771
Employer:
NASA

Missions & Projects

Brief Bio


Dr. McAdam is a Research Space Scientist in the Planetary Environments Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. She is a geochemist with a research emphasis on the mineralogy and chemistry of planetary materials and their analogs.  She specializes in analyses of terrestrial Mars analogs to gain insight into potential martian alteration processes, and the implications of those processes for the habitability of environments on Mars.  She has experience collecting samples from several terrestrial Mars analog environments, and interrogating these samples with a variety of analytical techniques, such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM), secondary electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and evolved gas analysis (EGA).  A major research endeavor has been performing EGA studies of Mars analog minerals and materials in support of similar measurements that are being taken on Mars by the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. 

Education


Ph.D. in Geological Sciences (2008), Arizona State University (ASU), Tempe, AZ, USA.
B.S. in Chemistry (2001), Michigan State University (MSU), East Lansing, MI, USA.
B.S. in Geology (2001), Michigan State University (MSU), East Lansing, MI, USA.
Additional Major in Environmental Geosciences (2001), Michigan State University (MSU), East Lansing, MI, USA.

Positions/Employment


Research Space Scientist

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - Code 699, 8800 Greenbelt Rd., Greenbelt, MD 20771

2009 - Present


NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - Code 699, 8800 Greenbelt Rd., Greenbelt, MD 20771

2008 - 2009


NASA Space Grant Fellow and Division of Graduate Studies Dissertation Fellow

School of Earth and Space Exploration - Arizona State University, Box 871404, Tempe, AZ 85287

2007 - 2008


NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program Fellow

School of Earth and Space Exploration - Arizona State University, Box 871404, Tempe, AZ 85287

2003 - 2006


Graduate Research/Teaching Assistant

School of Earth and Space Exploration - Arizona State University, Box 871404, Tempe, AZ 85287

2001 - 2003


Teaching Assistant

Department of Geological Sciences - Natural Sciences Building, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824

2000 - 2001


Summer Research Intern

Geophysical Laboratory - Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5251 Broad Branch Rd. NW, Washington, DC 20015

2000 - 2000


NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates Intern

Department of Chemistry - Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824

1999 - 1999

Current Projects


Mars Science Laboratory Sample Analysis at Mars collaborator

Mars


Mars Science Laboratory Participating Scientist Program, Co-I

Mars


NASA GSFC Internal Research and Development Program, Co-I

Technology & Missions


Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition team member (NASA ROSES ASTEP program), 2009-2011

Astrobiology

 Field evolved gas analysis investigations and sample collection of Mars analog materials.


Field and laboratory-based geochemical and mineralogical analyses of Mars analogs

Mars


Theoretical geochemical modeling of water-rock interactions on Mars

Publications


Refereed

2017. "A Two-Step K-Ar Experiment on Mars: Dating the Diagenetic Formation of Jarosite from Amazonian Groundwaters." Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets [10.1002/2017je005445] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "Large sulfur isotope fractionations in Martian sediments at Gale crater." Nature Geoscience [10.1038/ngeo3002] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "Evolved Gas Analyses of Sedimentary Rocks and Eolian Sediment in Gale Crater, Mars: Results of the Curiosity Rover's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument from Yellowknife Bay to the Namib Dune." Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets 122 [10.1002/2016je005225] [Journal Article/Letter]

2016. "Magnesium sulfate as a key mineral for the detection of organic molecules on Mars using pyrolysis." Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets 121 (1): 61-74 [10.1002/2015je004884] [Journal Article/Letter]

2015. "The imprint of atmospheric evolution in the D/H of Hesperian clay minerals on Mars." Science Vol 347 412-414 [[DOI:10.1126/science.1260291]] [Journal Article/Letter]

2015. "Evidence for indigenous nitrogen in sedimentary and aeolian deposits from the Curiosity rover investigations at Gale crater, Mars." Proceedings of National Academy of Science [10.1073/pnas.1420932112] [Journal Article/Letter]

2014. "Volatile and Organic Compositions of Sedimentary Rocks in Yellowknife Bay, Gale Crater, Mars." Science 343 6169 [doi:10.1126/science.1245267] [Journal Article/Letter]

2014. "Sulfur-bearing Phases Detected by Evolved Gas Analysis of the Rocknest Aeolian Deposit, Gale Crater." J. Geophys. Res. 119 373-393 [10.1002/2013JE004518] [Journal Article/Letter]

2014. "Abundances and Implications of Volatile-bearing Species from Evolved Gas Analysis of the Rocknest Aeolian Deposit, Gale Crater, Mars." Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets 119 237-254 [10.1002/2013JE004493] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Isotopic and geochemical investigation of two distinct Mars analog environments using evolved gas techniques in Svalbard, Norway." Icarus 224 (2013): 297-308 [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Volatile, Isotope, and Organic Analysis of Martian Fines with the Mars Curiosity Rover." Science 341 6153 [10.1126/science.1238937] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "The influence of mineralogy on recovering organic acids from Mars analogue materials using the "one-pot" derivatization experiment on the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite." Planet. Space Sci. 67 1-13 [10.1016/j.pss.2012.02.010] [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "Preferential low-pH dissolution of pyroxene in plagioclase-pyroxene mixtures: Implications for martian surface materials." Icarus 196 90-96 [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "Formation of silica by low-temperature acid alteration of martian rocks: Physical-chemical constraints." Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets 113 [10.1029/2007JE003056] [Journal Article/Letter]

Non-Refereed

2011. "Field characterizaton of the mineralogy and organic chemistry of carbonates from the 2010 Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition by Evolved Gas Analysis." LPS XLII Abstract #2136 [Proceedings]

2010. "Evolved Gas Analysis and X-ray Diffraction of Carbonate Samples from the 2009 Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition: Implications for Mineralogical Inferences from the Mars Science Laboratory." LPS XLI Abstract #2206 [Proceedings]

2009. "Antarctic Mars analogs and interpretation of martian alteration signatures." LPS XL Abstract #1032 [Proceedings]

2008. "Iron oxides in Ferrar Dolerite weathering products (Martian soil analogs)." Meteoritics and Planetary Science 43 A94 [Proceedings]

Awards


2007                        ASU Division of Graduate Studies Dissertation Fellowship

2006, 2007            NASA Space Grant Fellowship

2003-2006             NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program Fellowship

2001-2004              ASU University Graduate Scholars Award

2001-2004              ASU Graduate Tuition Scholarship

2001                         The American Chemical Society (MSU) Robert Clark Kedzie Award to the                                               Outstanding Chemistry Major

2001                          John T. Wilband Memorial Scholarship, for MSU’s Geology Field Camp

1999-2000              Thomas Alan Deline Scholarship in Chemistry, a MSU research based award

2000                          Keki & Phyllis Mistry Award in Chemistry, a MSU research based award

 

Teaching Experience


Introduction to Geology I (ASU, 2007)

Introduction to Planetary Geology (ASU, 2002)

Introduction to Geology Lab I (ASU, 2001-2002)

Geology and the Human Environment Lab (MSU, 2001)

Plate Tectonics Laboratory (MSU, 2000)

Professional Service


External reviewer and panel member for several NASA grant programs

Reviewer of scientific manuscripts for several peer-reviewed journals