MINERALOGY AND PLANETARY SCIENCE
Carnegie Research Scientist, Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science
Co-Investigator, CheMin, NASA Mars Science Laboratory Mission
Dr. Shaunna Morrison is a Carnegie Research Scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science’s Geophysical Laboratory. She is also a Co-Investigator of the CheMin instrument on the NASA Mars Science Laboratory Mission (Curiosity rover). Her research background is in crystallography, crystal chemistry, and planetary applications thereof. Her current research delves into characterizing the relationships of mineral diversity and distribution, and into using advanced analytics to study Earth Systems. Her work focuses on mineral network analysis, mineral ecology and evolution, comparative planetology, and mineral bonding systematics. She is developing a deep-time mineral database, mineral network analysis techniques, and exploring predictive machine learning, all with applications to comparative planetology, understanding the redox history of the Earth’s surface, and determining elemental availability through deep time.