Phil Christensen

Regents' Professor, School Of Earth and Space Exploration

Philip R. Christensen is a Regents Professor and the Ed and Helen Korrick Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. As a geologist and geophysicist, his research interests focus on the composition, processes, and physical properties of Mars, the Earth, and other planetary surfaces. He uses spectroscopy, radiometry, field observations, and numerical modeling to study the geology and history of planets and moons. Over the past decade he has studied urban environments and growth worldwide using satellite data.

He has built five science instruments that have flown on NASA missions to Mars, including the Thermal Emission Imaging System  (THEMIS) camera on Mars Odyssey, the Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer  (Mini-TES) instruments on the Mars Exploration Rovers, and the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) on Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Observer.

Professor Christensen was awarded NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 2003 for his work on infrared observations of Mars, NASA’s Public Service Medal in 2005, and the G.K. Gilbert Award of the Geological Society of America in 2008. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union.