Martha S. Gilmore, Ph.D. is the Seney Professor of Geology in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Wesleyan University, Middletown CT. Dr. Gilmore is a geologist who specializes in the study of planetary surfaces using geomorphic mapping and VNIR spectroscopy on Venus, Mars and Earth. She compares spectral signatures from field and laboratory work to orbital images to better interpret the signals received from remote sensing platforms.
Dr. Gilmore is a world’s expert on Venus geology and the oldest rock units on Venus located in tessera terrain. This work includes interpretation of tessera structures and stratigraphy using Magellan radar to show that they were formed in an extinct geodynamic regime including the lateral accumulation of materials via compression followed by a period of extension prior to the eruption of the plains that cover most of the surface of Venus. She has utilized the atmospheric spectral window at 1 µm to examine tessera in both VEx VIRTIS and Galileo NIMS data to show that the emissivity of tesserae differ from the presumably basaltic plains in a manner consistent with more iron poor, felsic compositions, which is the strongest evidence to date that these rocks contain evolved magmas formed on a more water-rich planet. With her postdoc, Jeremy Brossier, she has also shown that radar emissivity of tesserae and volcanoes varies regionally across the planet, indicating differences in rock composition and degree of weathering or age. Current work includes weathering Venus analogue rocks in GEER and in furnaces in her lab (at Venus temperature and gases) to experimentally constrain weathering reactions predicted to occur on Venus and measure their NIR reflectivity and emissivity.
Dr. Gilmore’s work on Mars includes development of autonomous strategies for the identification and return of geologically important VNIR spectra from rovers and orbit. Much of the current Mars work in her lab includes VNIR spectroscopy of Mars analogue minerals including hydrous carbonates and Mars analogue brines. She has developed techniques to synthesize these minerals in a Mars chamber she and her students designed which allows collection of VNIR and Raman spectra under Mars conditions. On local field sites in Connecticut, she has collected VNIR data in the field over several growing seasons to develop techniques to identify P. australis (Common Reed), an invader in the local marshes, in remote sensing aerial and satellite data.
Dr. Gilmore has served NASA as co-chair of the Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences, as a member of the Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration, the Planetary Science Decadal Survey and as Deputy Chair of the Venus Exploration Analysis Group. She is a science team member on the DAVINCI and VERITAS missions to Venus. In addition, she has been a Co-I on other Discovery (RAVEN, VISAx), and New Frontiers (VOX, VICI) proposals as well as other mission and instrument concept ideation and study through PICASSO, PSDS3, Venus Bridge, Venus Sample Return and SBIR. She was the PI of a Venus Flagship Mission Concept Study for the current Planetary Decadal Survey. She is an author on over 60 refereed papers and proceedings and has been awarded over $3.2M in external funding. She is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America and was is the 2020 recipient of the Geological Society of America Randolph W. “Bill” and Cecile T. Bromery Award for the Minorities and the 2022 Claudia J. Alexander Award of the American Astronomical Society Division of Planetary Sciences.
Dr. Gilmore earned a B.A. in Geology from Franklin and Marshall College, a Sc.M. and Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from Brown University and took a postdoc at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory prior to her arrival at Wesleyan in 2000. At Wesleyan she has served as the Director of Graduate Studies, Chair of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department and helped found the Planetary Science Group which awards a minor and an MA degree. She has supervised over 20 graduate and undergraduate theses and published 14 papers with student co-authors. Originally from Pennsylvania, she lives in Connecticut with her husband and their two children.
