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Maria Zuber
Maria T. Zuber, PCAST Co-Chair (cropped).jpg
Co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
Assumed office
January 20, 2021
President Joe Biden
Preceded by Position established
Personal details
Born (1958-06-27) June 27, 1958 (age 66)
Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Education University of Pennsylvania (BS)
Brown University (MS, PhD)
Awards NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal
Scientific career
Fields Planetary science
Institutions Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Thesis Unstable Deformation in Layered Media: Application to Planetary Lithospheres (1986)
Doctoral advisor E. M. Parmentier

Maria T. Zuber (born June 27, 1958) is an American geophysicist who is the E. A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a current trustee of Brown University. Zuber has been involved in more than half a dozen NASA planetary missions aimed at mapping the Moon, Mars, Mercury, and several asteroids. She was the principal investigator for the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) Mission, which was managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Since January 2021, Zuber serves as co-chair of President Joe Biden's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). She was previously a member of the National Science Board.

Early life and education

Maria T. Zuber was born on June 27, 1958, in Norristown, Pennsylvania. She grew up in Summit Hill, Pennsylvania, in Pennsylvania's Coal Region, one of five children of Joseph and Dolores (Stoffa) Zuber. She has three brothers, Joseph Jr., Stephen, and Andrew (1966–2018), and a sister, Joanne. Both her grandfathers were coal miners and contracted black lung disease.

Zuber received her B.A. in astronomy and geology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1980; she was the first person in her family to attend college.

Zuber earned Sc.M. and Ph.D. degrees, both in geophysics, from Brown University in 1983 and 1986 respectively. Reflecting on her decision to apply to Ivy League graduate schools and not MIT, Zuber joked "I remember saying, I don't want to go to any nerd school... and of course, I'm the biggest nerd there is."

Career

Zuber later worked at Johns Hopkins University and was a research scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. She joined the faculty of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1995 and was the head of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences from 2003 to 2012. She was the first woman to lead a science department at MIT. From 2012, she was vice president for research at MIT, where she also held the position of the E. A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences.

Zuber's professional focus has been on the structure and tectonics of solid solar system objects. She is a pioneer in the measurement of the shapes of the surfaces of the inner planets, and in interpreting what those shapes mean for internal structure and dynamics, thermal history, and surface-atmosphere interactions. She specializes in using gravity and laser altimetry measurements to determine interior structure and evolution. The topographic maps of Mars and the Moon produced by her laser altimeters on the Mars Global Surveyor and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft are more accurate than that of Earth. She has been a team member on 10 NASA planetary missions, including Mars Global Surveyor, Dawn, and MESSENGER.

Maria Zuber countdown
Jim Adams, NASA Deputy Director of Planetary Division, left, and Maria Zuber, GRAIL principal investigator, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, talk during the countdown to launch of the twin GRAIL spacecraft on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011, at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Zuber became interested in planetary science at an early age. A desire to spread her childhood enthusiasm was one reason why she teamed up with former astronaut Sally Ride to include in the GRAIL mission components that would capture the imagination of young students. A student contest provided the names for the mission's two spacecraft, Ebb and Flow, and students can sign up to use GRAIL's Moon Knowledge Acquired (MoonKAM) by Middle school students.

In January 2021, Zuber was appointed co-chair of President-elect Joe Biden's President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).

Honors and awards

  • Secretary Kerry Speaks With MIT President and Vice President Drs. Reif and Zuber Before Discussing Climate Change at the University in Cambridge, Massachusetts (32212106825)
    Zuber with Leo Rafael Reif and John Kerry in 2017
    2002: 50 Most Important Women in Science (Discover Magazine).
  • 2004: NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal.
  • 2005: Elected to the American Philosophical Society
  • 2007: American Astronautical Society/Planetary Society Carl Sagan Memorial Award.
  • 2007: Geological Society of America G.K. Gilbert Award
  • 2008: Honorary Doctor of Science degree from Brown University.
  • 2008: Named as one of America's Best Leaders by U.S. News & World Report, with Fiona A. Harrison. Zuber and Harrison were the first two women to be selected as scientific leaders of NASA robotic missions.
  • 2009: NASA Group Achievement Award for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Laser Ranging Team.
  • 2010: NASA Group Achievement Award for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Team.
  • 2012: Massachusetts Institute of Technology James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award.
  • 2012: NASA Group Achievement Awards for (1) the GRAIL Science Team; (2) the GRAIL Project Office Team; and (3) the GRAIL Mission Formulation Team.
  • 2012: NASA Outstanding Public Leadership Medal
  • 2012: Harry Hess Medal, American Geophysical Union.
  • 2012: International Academy of Astronautics Laurel for Team Achievement to MESSENGER Team.
  • 2013: National Space Society, Space Pioneer Award in Science and Engineering, GRAIL Team.
  • 2013: NASA Exceptional Achievement for Science, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Science Team.
  • 2013: NASA Group Achievement Award for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter - Laser Ranger Optical Communication Experiment.
  • 2013: NASA Group Achievement Award for the Dawn Science Team.
  • 2014: Buzz Aldrin Space Exploration Award, The Explorer's Club.
  • 2015: Member, Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars.
  • 2015: MIT Freshman Advising Student Champion Award.
  • 2015: Best Referee Award, Nature Publishing
  • 2017: Eugene Shoemaker Distinguished Scientist Medal, NASA Solar System Exploration Virtual Science Institute
  • 2019: Gerard P. Kuiper Prize in Planetary Sciences
  • 2022: Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member Dr. Francis Collins

Zuber is a fellow of the following professional societies:

The asteroid 6635 Zuber, which orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter, is named for Zuber.

See also

  • List of women in leadership positions on astronomical instrumentation projects
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