Grand Challenge Initiative: Space Exploration

Peter Plavchan, Associate Professor and Executive Director of the George Mason Observatories, is an observational exoplanet astronomer. His research focuses on the formation and demographics of planets around cool, low-mass stars, using radial velocity and transit methods. He led the discovery of the AU Mic planetary system (published in Nature), and is Principal Investigator of NASA’s Landolt mission and HaZE mission concept, as well as the EarthFinder Probe Mission concept. Plavchan has built instrumentation for the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, is Co-PI of the MINERVA-Australis telescope array, and has contributed to missions including Spitzer, Kepler, TESS, and JWST. His work is supported by NASA, NSF, and the Mt. Cuba Astronomical Foundation.

Anamaria Berea is an associate professor of Computational and Data Sciences. She also serves as an affiliate faculty member and super mentor for the Frontier Development Lab (FDL), affiliated with the SETI Institute. In addition, Berea is a research investigator and elected Scientist Representative for the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science (BMSIS), an affiliate of the Post-Detection Hub at the University of St. Andrews. She is also a member of the International Astronautical Federation's Permanent SETI Committee and serve as Mission Head at the Interstellar Foundation. A recipient of a NASA award, she led the ASPIRE One mission to the Moon. Her current research lies at the intersection of artificial intelligence and space sciences, with a particular focus on astrobiology. Berea's work includes computer simulations of human teams and habitats in extreme environments (such as the Moon and Mars), studies on universals of communication for deep space contexts, and the development of AI applications for detecting biosignatures and technosignatures.

Erdal Yiğit is an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. His research interests cover topics from atmospheric, space and planetary sciences, in particular, global modeling of and internal wave effects in planetary atmospheres, such as, Earth and Mars. He is the developer of the first whole atmosphere gravity wave parameterization suitable for general circulation models of planetary atmospheres. He is the recipient of the 2016 Zeldovich Medal jointly presented by COSPAR and the Russian Academy of Sciences for his significant contributions to the study of coupling between the lower and upper atmospheres on Earth and Mars by gravity waves. He is the sole author of the Springer's two-volume monograph series on "Atmospheric and Space Sciences" one on Neutral atmospheres and the second on Ionospheres and Plasma Environments.

Peter Becker serves as an expert in solar research. He and a team of George Mason researchers work with the Department of the Navy to study and better understand increased solar activity that could potentially cause an “internet apocalypse,” disrupting all electronic communications on Earth, including satellite communications. He regularly speaks to media concerning how solar superstorms could affect internet access here on Earth.