Peter Schultz
Professor:
Geological Sciences
Phone: +1 401 863 2417
Peter_Schultz@Brown.EDU
Impact cratering is one of the few processes affecting all planetary bodies. Records can provide clues for contrasting geologic evolutions. The planetary record, lab experiments, field studies, and theoretical approaches allow exploring a process at scales we hope we never witness. My main research has been on the effect of impact angle on cratering and the role of the atmosphere in modifying the process. Different planetary environments, laboratory simulations, and theoretical models allow testing under extreme conditions and to extreme scales.
Biography
I received my Ph.D. in Astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin in 1972. After working as a research associate at the NASA Ames Research Center, and a Staff Scientist at The Lunar and Planetary Institute, I became an Associate Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at Brown University in 1984. I was promoted to full Professor in 1994. In addition to my research and teaching responsibilities at Brown, I have served as Director of the Lunar and Planetary Institute Planetary Image Facility, and am currently the Director for both the Northeast Planetary Data Center and the NASA/Rhode Island University Space Grant Consortium.
Interests
I am currently developing a new technology (Impact Flash) to determine surface compositions of planets and asteroids in conjunction with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. I am also investigating the impact record in Argentina as a means to understand the chronostratigraphy of sedimentary sequences. My research on the effect of impact trajectory on crater structure has implications for the regional ecological stress created by terrestrial impacts. I am using the NASA Ames Vertical Gun Range to understand new scaling relations for different conditions of impact and energy partitioning. My laboratory recreations of hypervelocity impact and high strain-rate experiments will help assess the effects of atmosphere on emplacement of crater ejecta as a means to probe the Martian crust. Along those same lines, I am investigating the generation, dispersal, survival, and evidence for impact glass deposits on Mars and the processes affecting the synthesis and survival of organics during hypervelocity. I am Co-Investigator on the NASA Discovery Mission, Deep Impact, and much of my time is now spent on the analysis of data from that mission.
Awards
Some Recent Awards:
2006 Distinguished Achievement Award, Carleton College
Asteroid 6952 named "PeteSchultz" (Announcement at 2005 Asteroids, Comets, and Meteorites Conference, Buzios, Brazil)
2004 Barringer Medal Award (for achievements in impact research)
Certificate of Special Recognition, 2000 (U.S. House of Representatives)
Certificate of Appreciation, 2000 (RI House of Representatives)
Affiliations
Current:
Science Coordinator for NASA-Ames Vertical Gun Range (national facility)
NASA Management Operations Working Group Member
Chair, Regional Planetary Image Facilities Director
Council Member, Regional Planetary Image Facility Site Review Committee
Director of the NASA Rhode Island Space Grant Consortium
Director of the Northeast Planetary Data Center
Teaching
GEOL 0160: First Year Seminar: Chicken Little or Armageddon? Past and Future Cosmic Threats
GEOL 0810: Planetary Geology
GEOL 2880: Planetary Cratering
GEOL 2920: Astrobiology (co-taught w/Y. Huang)
ADVISING:
Current PhD Students:
Megan Bruck
Robert Harris
Brendan Hermalyn
Angela Stickle
Former Graduate Students:
Jennifer Anderson, Ph.D. '04
Olivier Barnouin-Jha, Ph.D. '98
David Crawford, Ph.D. '92
Jason Dahl, Sc.M. '99
Clara Eberhard, Sc.M. '04
Carolyn Ernst, Ph.D. '08
John Grant, Ph.D. '90
Patricia Grizzaffi Rogers, Sc.M. '87
Charles Halfen, Sc.M. '91
Seiji Sugita, Ph.D. '99
Bradley Thomson, Ph.D. '06
Carolyn van der Bogert, Ph.D. '04
Robert Wichman, Ph.D. '93
Kelly Wrobel, Ph.D. '08
Funded Research
Recent Funding:
NASA-JPL: Atmospheric Effects on the Cratering Process
NSF Division of Earth Sciences: Terrestrial Low-Angle Impacts
NASA: Modeling the Atmospheric Response to an Advancing Continuous Ejecta Curtain: Implications for Planets with Atmospheres
NASA: Geologic Signatures of Atmospheric Effects on Impact Cratering on Venus
NSF Division of Earth Sciences: Major Equipment Request for a Subsurface Interface Radar (SIR) System
JPL: Impact Flash Spectroscopy
Fina Oil Company: The Sierra Madera impact and implications for hydrocarbon exploration strategies
NASA: Effects of High Strain-rate Deformation on Impact Melt Generation
NASA: An Ultraspectrometer (MEMUS) for Planetary Surface Analysis: Planetary Instrument and Development Program.
NASA: Planetary Impact Processes
NSF Division of Earth Sciences: Late Cenozoic Record of Impact Glasses in the Argentine Pampas
NASA: Planetary Impact Processes
NASA: Deep Impact Co-Investigator Participation
NASA: Survival and Synthesis of Organics During Hypervelocity Impacts
NASA: Northeast Planetary Data Center
NASA: Rhode Island Space Grant Program
NASA: Thermal Evolution of Impacts from Laboratory Experiments
Web Links
- Peru Meteorite May Rewrite Rules
- "Deep Impact": Cometary Ice?
- Brown's Planetary Geosciences Group
- More about my research...
