Dr. Penelope Boston is Director of the
Cave and Karst Studies Program and Associate
Professor in the Earth & Environmental Sciences
Dept. at New Mexico Institute of Mining &
Technology, in Socorro, NM. Boston is also
Chief Academic Advisor to the National Cave and
Karst Research Institute in Carlsbad, NM. Her
research areas include geomicrobiology and
astrobiology in extreme environments (caves, hot
and cold deserts, high latitudes and altitudes);
human life support issues in space and planetary
environments; and use of robotics to assist
exploration and science in extreme Earth and
extraterrestrial environments. Boston is author
of over 100 technical and popular publications,
editor of 4 volumes, and author of two upcoming
popular books. Her work has been featured in
over 100 print and broadcast media outlets over
the past decade. As a student at the University
of Colorado in the early 1980s, she co-founded
the Case for Mars project and series of
conferences. An eventual permanent human
presence on Mars is one of the driving passions
of her life. |
