We have two important announcements:
1) Dr. R. Aileen Yingst (PSI) has agreed to serve as the next MEPAG Chair. Dr. Yingst is a planetary geologist whose research focuses on the texture and morphology of rock outcrops and clasts. She was involved in the Mars Pathfinder and Mars Polar Lander missions, and served as Associate PI for the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. She is currently the Deputy Principal Investigator for the Mars Hand Lens Imager instrument (MAHLI) and is a science team member for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) imaging science team. She is also a Co-Investigator on the SHERLOC/WATSON instrument on the Mars 2020 rover.
Dr. Yingst will be formally welcomed as the new MEPAG Chair at the next MEPAG virtual meeting (VM5, see below), taking the reins from Dr. Jeffrey R. Johnson, who stepped in as MEPAG Chair in March, 2016 (at MEPAG meeting 31) – many thanks for his 3 years of service and extensive work for this community and Committee! Dr. Johnson will remain a member of the MEPAG Executive Committee as “Past Chair.” A full listing of MEPAG Committee members can be found here: https://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/about.cfm.
2) The MEPAG Mtg VM5 -1st Information Circular is available and will be posted at https://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/meetings.cfm. This meeting will be held Thursday, June 6th, 2019, at 11:00 am-1:00 pm EDT. Agenda items are expected to include an update from NASA HQ, a final report from the Ice and Climate Evolution Science Analysis Group (ICE-SAG), information about the upcoming Ninth International Conference on Mars and subsequent MEPAG Meeting 37 (July 22-25 and July 26, respectively), and reports about other Mars-relevant meetings. Additionally, we will formally welcome in the incoming MEPAG Chair, Dr. R. Aileen Yingst (PSI). The current agenda and WebEx connectivity information are included in the 1st Informational Circular. Updates to the agenda and presentations will be posted to the MEPAG meeting website (http://mepag.nasa.gov/meetings.cfm). All members of the Mars science community including our international colleagues are welcomed to attend.