Associate Professor, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; Purdue University
Dr. Michelle Thompson specializes in planetary geology and cosmochemistry. Her research focuses on understanding the effects of space weathering processes on airless planetary bodies, such as the Moon and asteroids, by analyzing returned samples and analog materials. Through advanced transmission electron microscopy techniques, she investigates the mineralogical and chemical changes caused by interactions with the space environment, shedding light on the evolution of planetary surfaces. Her work is directly applicable to samples returned by the Apollo, Hayabusa, Hayabusa2, and OSIRIS-REx missions.
