Ph.D. in Planetary Science, 2008 University of Arizona Contact: Applied Physics Laboratory Johns Hopkins University Laurel, MD Mailstop: MP3-E169 Phone: (443) 778-5874 Email: catherine.neish at jhuapl.edu

I graduated from the Lunar and Planetary Lab at the University of Arizona in December 2008, and began a postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in May 2009. My interests are twofold: (1) astrobiology, specifically the creation of prebiotic molecules on Titan's surface, and (2) radar observations of planetary objects.

Download my complete CV here.

EDUCATION

Aug. 2004 - Dec. 2008		Doctoral Program in Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona
Sept. 1999 - May 2004		Combined Honours Physics and Astronomy program, University of British Columbia

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

May 2009 - present		Studying the radar properties of the Moon using Mini-SAR data from ISRO's Chandrayaan-1 mission and NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (Laurel, MD).
May 2005 - April 2009		Studying aqueous organic chemistry on Titan, using Cassini RADAR data and FT-MS laboratory data.University of Arizona - Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (Tucson, AZ).
May 2003 - Aug. 2003		Studied the properties of asteroids using the techniques of radar astronomy. NAIC - Arecibo Observatory (Arecibo, PR).

AWARDS

Aug. 2005 - Aug. 2008		NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship - Doctoral
April 2008		Galileo Circle Scholarship, University of Arizona
April 2006		Edward and Jill Bessey Scholarship in Astrobiology
Aug. 2004 - Aug. 2005		Julie Payette-NSERC Research Scholarship

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Associate Team Member of the Cassini Radar Science Team (2010 - present)

Team Member of the Chandrayaan-1 and LRO Mini-RF Science Team (2009 - present)

Lead organizer for NLSI's first virtual workshop on Lunar Swirls, held September 7, 2011

Co-organizer of the first annual LunGradCon meeting, held July 18, 2010 at NASA Ames

Chapter reviewer for the book Titan after Cassini-Huygens, and the journals Icarus, Geophysical Research Letters, Planetary and Space Science, ApJ Letters, and Nature Geosciences

Review panel member for NASA ROSES, 2008, 2009

Participant, Teaching Excellence Workshop sponsored by the Center for Astronomy Education (CAE), July 23-24, 2011

Featured in Discovery channel documentary, "Are We Alone?"

University of Arizona Graduate and Professional Student Council

President (May 2007 - May 2008) College of Science Representative (May 2005 - April 2007)

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

American Geophysical Union

Division for Planetary Science, American Astronomical Society

PUBLICATIONS

L.M. Carter, C.D. Neish, D.B.J. Bussey, P.D. Spudis, M.S. Robinson, G.W. Patterson, J.T. Cahill, R.K. Raney (2012) Initial observations of lunar impact melts and ejecta flows with the Mini-RF radar. Journal of Geophysical Research, in press.

C.D. Neish, R.D. Lorenz (2012) Titan's global crater population: A new assessment. Planetary and Space Science 60, 26-33.

C.D. Neish, D.T. Blewett, D.B.J. Bussey, S.J. Lawrence, M. Mechtley, B.J. Thomson (2011) The surficial nature of lunar swirls as revealed by the Mini-RF instrument. Icarus 215, 186-196.

C.D. Neish (2011) News and Views: Titan's nitrogenesis. Nature Geosciences 4, 356-357.

R.K. Raney, P. Spudis, B. Bussey, J. Crusan, J.R. Jensen, W. Marinelli, P. McKerracher, C. Neish, M. Palsetia, R. Schulze, H. Sequeira, H. Winters (2011) The Lunar Mini-RF Radars: Hybrid Polarimetric Architecture and Initial Results. Proceedings of the IEEE 99, 808-823.

C.D. Neish, D.B.J. Bussey, P. Spudis, W. Marshall, B.J. Thomson, G.W. Patterson, L.M. Carter (2011) The nature of lunar volatiles as revealed by Mini-RF observations of the LCROSS impact site. Journal of Geophysical Research 116, E01005.

C.D. Neish, A. Somogyi, and M.A. Smith (2010) Titan's primoridal soup: Formation of amino acids via low temperature hydrolysis of tholins. Astrobiology 10, 337-347.

C.D. Neish, R.D. Lorenz, R.L. Kirk, and L.C. Wye (2010) Radarclinometry of the sand seas of Africa's Namibia and Saturn's moon Titan. Icarus 208, 385-394.

D.B.J. Bussey, J.A. McGovern, P.D. Spudis, C.D. Neish, H. Noda, Y. Ishihara, and S-A. Sorensen (2010) Illumination conditions of the south pole of the Moon derived using Kaguya topography. Icarus 208, 558-564.

C.D. Neish, A. Somogyi, J.I. Lunine, and M.A. Smith (2009) Low temperature hydrolysis of laboratory tholins in ammonia-water solutions: Implications for prebiotic chemistry on Titan. Icarus 201, 412-421.

A. Coustenis, S.K. Atreya, T. Balint, R.H. Brown, M.K. Dougherty, F. Ferri, M. Fulchignoni, D. Gautier, R.A. Gowen, C.A. Griffith, L.I. Gurvits, R. Jaumann, Y. Langevin, M.R. Leese, J.I. Lunine, C.P. McKay, X. Moussas, I. Müller-Wodarg, F. Neubauer, T.C. Owen, F. Raulin, E.C. Sittler, F. Sohl, C. Sotin, G. Tobie, T. Tokano, E.P. Turtle, J.-E.Wahlund, J.H. Waite, K.H. Baines, J. Blamont, A.J. Coates, I. Dandouras, T. Krimigis, E. Lellouch, R.D. Lorenz, A. Morse, C.C. Porco, M. Hirtzig, J. Saur, T. Spilker, J.C. Zarnecki, E. Choi, C.D. Neish, and 111 colleagues (2009) TandEM: Titan and Enceladus mission. Experimental Astronomy 23, 893-946.

C.D. Neish, R.D. Lorenz, and R.L. Kirk (2008) Radar topography of domes on planetary surfaces. Icarus 196, 552-564.

C.D. Neish, A. Somogyi, H. Imanaka, J.I. Lunine, and M.A. Smith (2008) Rate measurements of the hydrolysis of organic polymers in cold aqueous solutions: Implications for prebiotic chemistry on the early Earth and Titan. Astrobiology 8, 273-287.

R.M.C. Lopes, K.L. Mitchell, E.R. Stofan, J. I. Lunine, R. Lorenz, F. Paganelli, R. L. Kirk, C.A. Wood, S.D. Wall, L. Robshaw, A.D. Fortes, C.D. Neish, J. Radebaugh, E. Reffet, C. Elachi, G. Boubin, M. D. Allison, Y. Anderson, R. Boehmer, P. Callahan, P. Encrenaz, E. Flamini, G. Francescetti, Y. Gim, G. Hamilton, S. Hensley, M. A. Janssen, W. T. K. Johnson, K. Kelleher, D. O. Muhleman, G. Ori, R. Orosei, S. J. Ostro, G. Picardi, F. Posa, L. E. Roth, R. Seu, S. Shaffer, L. A. Soderblom, B. Stiles, S. Vetrella, R.D. West, L. Wye, and H. A. Zebker (2007) Cryovolcanic features on Titan’s surface as revealed by the Cassini Radar Mapper. Icarus 186, 395-412.

C.D. Neish, R.D. Lorenz, D.P. O'Brien, and the Cassini RADAR Team (2006) The potential for prebiotic chemistry in the possible cryovolcanic dome Ganesa Macula on Titan. The International Journal of Astrobiology 5, 57-65.

P.C. Gregory, and C.D. Neish (2002) Density and velocity structure of the Be star equatorial disk in the binary LS I +61 303, a probable microquasar. The Astrophysical Journal 580, 1133-1148

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Last Modified: 10 September 2011