Janice Bishop, Senior Research Scientist at the SETI Institute, was elected as a Fellow to the Geological Society of America (GSA) at the spring GSA Council meeting.

According to the GSA website, “GSA members are nominated by existing GSA Fellows in recognition of their distinguished contributions to the geosciences through such avenues as publications, applied research, teaching, administration of geological programs, contributing to the public awareness of geology, leadership of professional organizations, and taking on editorial, bibliographic, and library responsibilities.”

Janice was nominated by Raymond Arvidson, James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis and a GSA Fellow himself. “Janice Bishop is an eminent spectroscopist who has used remote sensing to characterize key hydrated minerals on Mars,” said Arvidson in his nominating comments. “Her deep knowledge of mineral chemistry allowed her to document quantitative relationships between spectra and mineralogy (e.g., book chapters) and make ground-breaking discoveries (e.g., making clays on Mars during warm climatic excursions).”

"I'm thrilled to become a Fellow of GSA and honored to be recognized by my planetary science colleagues,” stated Bishop.

Bishop’s research uses spectroscopy to characterize and understand how rocks and clays on Mars were formed, providing insights about the environment on ancient Mars. Bishop’s work also takes her to Mars analog environments on Earth, such as Hawai’i and Western Australia.