Curriculum Vitae

Education: 

• University of California, Santa Barbara, Ph.D. 1979, Physics 

• University of California, Santa Barbara, M.A. 1975, Physics 

• University of South Florida, B.S. 1973, Physics 

Affiliations: 

• American Astronomical Society 

• Division for Planetary Science of the American Astronomical Society 

• Division on Dynamical Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society 

• American Geophysical Union 

• American Association for the Advancement of Science 

• International Astronomical Union 

• Meteoritical Society 

• American Academy of Arts and Sciences 

Professional experience: 

• Staff Member, 1983-present, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism 

• Staff Associate, 1981-1983, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism 

• Resident Research Associate, 1979-1981, NASA Ames Research Center, Space Science Division 

• Postdoctoral Researcher, 1979, University of California, Santa Barbara, Department of Physics 

• Research Assistant, 1974-1979, University of California, Santa Barbara, Department of Physics 

• Teaching Assistant, 1973-1974, University of California, Santa Barbara, Department of Physics 

Miscellaneous: 

• Undergraduate awards: CRC Freshman Chemistry Award, Outstanding Senior Finalist, B.S. awarded with Honors (3.96/4.00 GPR), graduate of College of Liberal Arts Honors Program 

• Undergraduate honorary fraternities: Pi Mu Epsilon (mathematics), Sigma Pi Sigma (physics), Omicron Delta Kappa (leadership), Phi Kappa Phi (general) 

• National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow (1979-1981) 

• Minor Planet (29137) named Alanboss (1987) 

• Fellow, American Geophysical Union (2000) 

• Benson Memorial Lecturer, Miami University (2000) 

• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (2001) 

• Fellow, Meteoritical Society (2002) 

• Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2003) 

• Carnegie Evening Lecturer, Carnegie Institution (2004) 

• Scottish Universities Physics Alliance Distinguished Visitor (2008) 

• NASA Group Achievement Award for Astrobiology Roadmap (2008) 

• Yuval Ne'eman Lecturer & Sackler Distinguished Lecturer, Tel Aviv University (2010) 

• NASA Group Achievement Award for SIM Planet Finding Capability Study Team (2010) 

• Carl Seyfert Lecturer, Vanderbilt University (2012) 

• NASA JPL STAR Award, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Astronomy & Physics Directorate (2017)

• Fellow, American Astronomical Society (2022) 

History of DTM federal grant support:

Other grant support: 

• JPL DDF -- Chemistry and Dynamics in Evolving Protostellar Cores and Disks (with W. D. Langer [PI] and M. Allen) -- $120,000 (1993-1995) 

• Carnegie Canada -- What is the Difference Between a Brown Dwarf Star and a Gas Giant Planet? (with Pierre Bastien [Co-I]) -- $40,000 (2002-2003) 

• NASA Discovery -- Kepler: A Search for Terrestrial Planets (with W. Borucki [PI] and twenty-three Science Team members) -- $577,266,000 (2002-2012) 

• Carnegie Science Venture Grant -- C-MOOR: The Carnegie Massive Open Online Research Platform (with F. Tan [co-PI], Z. Nizmai, S. Dieterich, and J. Teske) -- $100,000 (2016-2018) 

• David W. Thompson Family Fund -- Carnegie Astrometric Planet Search -- $220,000 (2015-) 

Doctoral thesis committees: 

• Elizabeth A. Myhill, University of California, Los Angeles (1991) 

• Prudence N. Foster, University of Virginia (1993) 

• Yan Fernandez, University of Maryland (1999) 

• Grant M. Kennedy, Australian National University (2009) 

• Johannes Sahlman, University of Geneva, Switzerland (2012) 

• Oliver Schib, University of Bern, Switzerland (2020-21)

• Ben Hord, University of Maryland (2023)

Professional committees: 

• CIW/Geophysical Laboratory Director Search Committee (1985-86) 

• NASA Origins of Solar Systems Workshops (1986-87) 

• NAS/NRC Committee on Cooperation with the USSR on Planetary Sciences (1988-89) 

• NASA Planetary Systems Science Working Group (1988-91,1994) 

• CIW/DTM Director Search Committee (1990-92) 

• NAS/NRC Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration (1990-93) 

• NASA Toward Other Planetary Systems Science Working Group (1991-93) 

• DDA/AAS Brouwer Award Selection Committee (1992-94) 

• NASA Origins of Solar Systems Management Operations Working Group (1994-96) 

• Chair, DDA/AAS Brouwer Award Selection Committee (1994-95) 

• AAS Warner/Pierce Prize Committee (1995-97) 

• Chair, NASA Planetary Systems Science Working Group (1995-96) 

• NASA Keck Review Team (1995-96) 

• NASA Exploration of Neighboring Planetary Systems (ExNPS) Roadmap Integration Team (1995) 

• NASA Solar System Exploration Subcommittee (1995) 

• NASA Astronomical Search for Origins and Planetary Systems Subcommittee (1996-98) 

• NASA Keck/IRTF Management Operations Working Group (1996-98) 

• NASA Space Interferometry Mission Science Working Group (1996-2000) 

• NASA SScAC Task Force on R&A and MO&DA (1997-98) 

• NASA Astrobiology Roadmap Team (1998) 

• Chair, NASA Origins of Solar Systems Management Operations Working Group (1998-2001) 

• External Review Committee, Space Science Division, NASA Ames Research Center (1999) 

• Chair, IAU Working Group on Extrasolar Planets (2000-03) 

• Co-Chair, DTM-GL Experiment Building Renovation Committee (2001-03) 

• Chair, NASA Origins and Evolution of Solar System Bodies Operations Working Group (2000-01) 

• NASA Planetary Geology and Geophysics Management Operations Working Group (2001-03) 

• NASA Astrobiology Roadmap Team (2001-02) 

• NASA Kepler Mission Science Team (2001-12) 

• AAAS Electorate Nominating Committee of Section on Astronomy (2002-05) 

• NASA Navigator Program Independent Review Team (2002-05) 

• Chair, OCIW Director Search Committee (2002) 

• Chair, NASA TPF Precursor Science Roadmap Advisory Group (2003) 

• Organizing Committee, Division III, International Astronomical Union (2003-) 

• Vice President, Commission 51: Bioastronomy, International Astronomical Union (2003-06) 

• Chair, IAU Working Group on Extrasolar Planets (2003-06) 

• IAU Working Group on the Definition of a Planet (2004-05) 

• NASA Navigator Program External Independent Readiness Board (2005-08) 

• President, Commission 51: Bioastronomy, International Astronomical Union (2006-09) 

• Vice President, Commission 53: Extrasolar Planets, International Astronomical Union (2006-09) 

• Co-Chair, NASA Astrobiology Institute Planetary System Formation Focus Group (2008-11) 

• NASA ExoPlanet Exploration External Independent Readiness Board (2008-09) 

• NASA Kepler Mission Science Council (2008-09) 

• President, Commission 53: Extrasolar Planets, International Astronomical Union (2009-12) 

• Past President, Commission 51: Bioastronomy, International Astronomical Union (2009-12) 

• Chair-Elect, AAAS Section on Astronomy (2009-10) 

• NAS/NRC Astro 2010 Decadal Survey, EOS Program Prioritization Panel (2009-10) 

• Chair, AAAS Section on Astronomy (2010-11) 

• NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program Technology Assessment Committee (2010-13) 

• Chair, Astrophysics Subcommittee, NASA Advisory Council (2010-12) 

• NASA Science Committee, NASA Advisory Council (2010-12) 

• NASA Star and Exoplanet Database User's Group (2010-11) 

• Past Chair, AAAS Section on Astronomy (2011-12) 

• NASA Astrobiology Roadmap Team (2013) 

• Chair, NASA Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets Coronagraph Technology Assessment Committee (2013-17) 

• Spanish Planetology and Astrobiology Network International Science Committee (2014-) 

• Chair, NASA Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets IR Detectors Technology Assessment Committee (2014-17) 

• Carnegie Institution Scientific Computing Advisory Committee (2014-16) 

• Chair, Carnegie Observatories Director Search Committee (2014-15) 

• NASA Astrophysics Subcommittee, NASA Advisory Council (2015-17) 

• Chair, NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (2015-18) 

• Founding Member, NASA Nexus for Exoplanet System Science Network (2015-) 

• Chair, Carnegie Institution Space Earth Life Book Advisory Committee (2016-17) 

• NASA Astrophysics Advisory Committee, NASA Astrophysics Division (2017-19) 

• NAS/NRC Astrobiology Science Strategy Committee (2017-18) 

• Past Chair (Emeritus), NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (2018-19) 

• Chair, NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program Technology Assessment Committee (2013-) 

• Chair, NASA Independent Review Team, Roman Space Telescope Coronagraphic Instrument (2018-23) 

• NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program Science Interest Group on Demographics (2018-)

• Chair, G-CLEF Management Advisory Board (2020-)

• Chair, Magellan Instrument Review Committee (2022-23)

Conference organization committees: 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, IAU Symposium #147, Grenoble (1988-90) 

• Steering Committee, Clemson Workshop on Isotopic Anomalies (1989-90) 

• Chair, Organizing Committee, Symposium on Time Scales & Solar System Formation [in honor of George W. Wetherill] (1990-91) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, First International Conference on Formation, Evolution, and Detection of Planetary Systems (1992) 

• Organizing Committee, JPL/Caltech Summer School for Planetary Science (1992) 

• Program Committee, Workshop on Isotopic Anomalies, Washington University (1993) 

• Organizing Committee, Clouds, Cores, and Low Mass Stars, Fourth Haystack Observatory Conference (1994) 

• Organizing Committee, Chondrules as Probes of Protoplanetary Disks, University of New Mexico (1993-94) 

• Organizing Committee, Division of Planetary Sciences Meeting, Washington, D.C. (1993-94) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, Workshop on Galactic Star Formation and Early Stellar Evolution, Ringberg Castle, Germany (1994-95) 

• Organizing Committee, Meteoritical Society Washington Meeting (1992-95) 

• Organizing Committee, From Stardust to Planetesimals, NASA Ames Research Center, Santa Clara, California (1995-96) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, Planetary Formation in the Binary Environment, State University of New York, Stony Brook (1995-96) 

• Vice-Chair, Gordon Research Conference on Origins of Solar Systems, New England College, Henniker, New Hampshire (1995-97) 

• Co-Chair, Protostars & Planets IV Conference (Co-Editor, book), University of California, Santa Barbara (1996-98) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, The International Origins Conference, Estes Park, Colorado (1996-97) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, Numerical Astrophysics 1998, Tokyo, Japan (1997-98) 

• Organizing Committee, Origin of the Earth and Moon Conference, Monterey, California (1996-1998) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, Euroconference on Extrasolar Planets, Lisbon, Portugal (1997-1998) 

• Chair, Gordon Research Conference on Origins of Solar Systems, New England College, Henniker, New Hampshire (1997-99) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, IAU Symposium 200: The Formation of Binary Stars, Potsdam, Germany (1999-2000) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, IAU Symposium 202: Planetary Systems in the Universe -- Observation, Formation and Evolution, Manchester, England (1999-2000) 

• Program Committee, Division of Planetary Sciences Meeting, Pasadena, California (2000) 

• Chair, Program Committee, Second NASA Astrobiology Institute General Meeting, Washington, D.C. (2001) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, Second Astrobiology Science Conference, NASA Ames Research Center, California (2001-02) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, Scientific Frontiers in Research on Extrasolar Planets, Washington, D.C. (2001-02) 

• Scientific Advisory Committee, Protostars and Planets V, Kohala, Hawaii (2002-05) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, IAU Symposium 219: The Stars Are Suns: Activity, Evolution, and Planets, Sydney, Australia (2002-03) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, Meteorites and the Early Solar System II, University of Arizona Space Science Series (2002-04) 

• Chair, Scientific Organizing Committee, Bioastronomy 2004, Iceland (2003-04) 

• Organizing Committee, Chondrites and the Protoplanetary Disk, Kauai (2003-04) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, Planet Formation 2005: Theory Meets Observation, Ringberg Castle, Bavaria, Germany (2004-05) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, Fourth Astrobiology Science Conference, Washington, D.C. (2004-06) 

• Program Organizing Committee, Pale Blue Dot III: Terrestrial to Astronomical Biosignatures, Adler Planetarium, Chicago, Illinois (2005-06) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, IAU Symposium No. 249 on Exoplanets: Physics, Dynamics, and Evolution, China (2005-07) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, Nobel Symposium on Physics of Planetary Systems, Stockholm, Sweden (2006-07) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, Bioastronomy 2007: Molecules, Microbes, and Extraterrestrial Life, Puerto Rico, (2006-07) 

• Science Steering Committee, Fifth Astrobiology Science Conference, Santa Clara, California (2007-08) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, Exoplanets, University of Arizona Space Science Series (2008-2010) 

• Program Committee, Searching for Life Signatures, International Academy of Astronautics, Paris, France (2008) 

• Co-Editor and Scientific Organizing Committee, IAU Special Session on Planetary Systems as Potential Sites for Life, IAU General Assembly, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2008-09) 

• Co-Editor and Scientific Organizing Committee, IAU Symposium #276 on the Astrophysics of Planetary Systems - Formation, Structure, and Dynamical Evolution, Torino, Italy (2009-2010) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, Origins 2011: Joint Meeting of IAU Commission 51 on Bioastronomy and ISSOL, Montpellier, France (2009-2011) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, Frontier Science Opportunities with the James Webb Space Telescope, Jackson Lake Lodge, Wyoming (2010-2011) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, First Kepler Science Conference, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California (2010-2011) 

• Scientific Advisory Committee, IAU Symposium #293: Formation, Detection, and Characterization of Extrasolar Habitable Planets, IAU 28th General Assembly, Beijing, China (2010-2012) 

• Chair, Local Organizing Committee, Sean Solomon Scientific Symposium, DTM, Carnegie Institution, Washington, D.C. (2010-2011) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, IAU Special Session #10: Dynamics of the Star-Planet Relations, IAU 28th General Assembly, Beijing, China (2011-2012) 

• Scientific Advisory Committee, Protostars and Planets VI, Heidelberg, Germany (2011-2013) 

• Co-Chair, Scientific Organizing Committee, Second Kepler Science Conference, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California (2013) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, Sagan Exoplanet Summer Workshop on Microlensing in the Era of WFIRST, Pasadena, California (2016-17) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, Chesapeake Bay Area Exoplanet Meetings, Washington, D.C. (2017-) 

• Scientific Organizing Committee, Green Bank Observatory Meeting on Astrobiology, Green Bank, West Virginia (2019)

• Co-Chair, Scientific Organizing Committee, 25th Silver Jubilee Sagan Summer Workshop on Exoplanet Demographics (2024-25)

Editorial positions: 

• Series Editor (with C. Cockell, B. Jakosky, D. Prieur, and F. Westall), Cambridge Astrobiology Series, Cambridge University Press, (2001-) 

• Editorial Board, Star Formation Newsletter (2012-20) 

Review panels: 

• NASA Astrophysical Theory Review Panel (1987) 

• NASA Origins of Solar Systems Review Panels (1989-91) 

• Group Chief (Observations), NASA Origins of Solar Systems Review Panel (1993) 

• NASA Lunar and Planetary Geosciences Review Panels (1993-94) 

• Chair, NASA Origins of Solar Systems Review Panels (1994-96) 

• NASA Hubble Space Telescope Allocation Committee (1995) 

• NASA Keck Telescope Allocation Committee (1996) 

• NASA Discovery 5 Mission Review Panel (1997) 

• Panel Chair, NASA Astrophysical Theory Review Panel (1997) 

• Panel Chair, NSF Stellar Astronomy and Astrophysics Review Panel (1997) 

• NSF Astronomy Division Career Program Review Panel (1998) 

• NSF/NASA Joint NStars/SIM Review Panel (1999) 

• NASA Michelson Fellowship Program Review Board (2000) 

• Chair, NASA Origins/Evolution Cluster Review, Office of Space Science (2000) 

• Subpanel Chair, NASA Astrobiology Institute Review Panel, Cycle 2 (2000) 

• Group Chief, NASA Planetary Geology and Geophysics Review Panel (2001-02) 

• NASA Explorer Mission Review Panel (2002) 

• NASA Exobiology Program Review Panel (2002) 

• Chair, NASA Exobiology Program Review Panel (2003-then schedule conflict) 

• NASA ADP/LTSA Program Review Panel (2004) 

• Carnegie Observatories Telescope Assignment Committee (2005) 

• Chair, NASA Interdisciplinary Exploration Science Review Panel (2005) 

• Chair, NASA Astrobiology Science and Technology Instrument Development Review Panel, Astronomy and Missions Subpanel (2006) 

• Chair, NASA Origins of Solar Systems Review Panels (2006-07) 

• Group Chair, NASA SOFIA Second Generation Instrument Science Peer Review Panel (2011-12) 

• NSF Galactic Astronomy Program Review Panel (2012) 

• Carnegie Observatories Telescope Assignment Committee (2012-13) 

• Chair, Carl Sagan Fellowship Committee, NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, Pasadena, California (2012-13) 

• Chair, NASA Astrophysics Research and Analysis: Strategic Astrophysics Technology Review Subpanel (2013) 

• Chair, NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute: Dynamics/NEO Characterization Review Subpanel(2013) 

• Carnegie Observatories Telescope Assignment Committee (2013-14) 

• Chair, Carl Sagan Fellowship Committee, NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, Pasadena, California (2013-14) 

• Chair, NASA WFIRST Coronagraph Preparatory Science Review Panel (2014) 

• Carnegie Science Venture Review Panels (2016-18) 

• Carnegie Observatories Telescope Assignment Committee (2018-19)

• Carnegie Science Venture Review Panel (2020) 

• Carnegie EPL Postdoctoral Fellowship Selection Committee (2023-24)

[Last updated: 7 October 2024] 

Link to main-belt asteroid 29137 Alanboss (1987 UY1)