Dr. Virgil L. Sharpton

Associate Director for Science
Lunar and Planetary Institute
3600 Bay Area Boulevard
Houston, TX 77058
281-244-2017 (office)
Sharpton@lpi.usra.edu

Dr. Sharpton's planetary research experience includes field validation studies, remote sensing and image processing, synthetic aperture radar (processing and interpretation)
geophysical exploration techniques, petrographic microscopy (including u-stage and
refractive index measurements), and instrumental geochemical techniques.

He is founder and former director of the Geographic Information Network of
Alaska (GINA ) which has attained an international reputation for providing timely and open access to university geospatial data and information services.

In 2011, Dr. Sharpton accepted a position at the Lunar and Planetary Institute to further
pursue his interests in planetary research.