The Penguin Speakers Bureau

Jim Bell is an Associate Professor in the Cornell University Astronomy Department. He received his BS from Caltech in 1987 and his PhD from the University of Hawaii in 1992, performing research on Mars surface mineralogy and climate variations using infrared and optical telescopes at Mauna Kea Observatory. He spent three years as a National Research Council postdoctoral research fellow at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California prior to going to Cornell in 1995. His studies primarily focus on the geology, chemistry, and mineralogy of planets, asteroids, and comets using data obtained from telescopes and spacecraft missions. He has published more than twenty-five first-authored and eighty co-authored research papers in peer-reviewed science journals, authored or co-authored more than 360 abstracts and scientific conference presentations, is a frequent contributor to popular astronomy magazines and radio shows, and co-edited a book published by Cambridge University Press about the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission in 2002. Jim is the lead scientist for the Pancam color imaging system on the NASA Mars Exploration Rover (Spirit and Opportunity) missions, and is also a member of the science teams of the NASA Mars Pathfinder, Mars ’01 Odyssey Orbiter, Mars ’05 Reconnaissance Orbiter, and 2009 Mars Science Laboratory mission teams. He is the recipient of six NASA Group Achievement awards, and the International Astronomical Union named the asteroid “8146 Jimbell” in his honor.

A regular commentator on astronomy and space exploration, Bell has appeared on the Today Show, CNN, Discovery Channel, and PBS NewsHour, as well as NPR’s Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, and Science Friday.

Check out Jim Bell’s website at www.postcardsfrommarsbook.com.