Dr. Julie D. Stopar
Senior Staff Scientist
[email protected]
281-486-2195
Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Julie Stopar is a staff scientist at the LPI where she leads research on lunar geology and surface evolution. Dr. Stopar is part of the coordination team for the LPI Summer Intern Program in Planetary Science, which hosts at least 10 undergraduate students each summer. She has also supervised postdoctoral and multiple undergraduate intern research projects. Dr. Stopar has been part of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter team since 2007, before launch. She is the current Deputy-PI for the LRO Camera team and a Mini-RF team member.
Dr. Stopar's current research focuses on answering key lunar science questions relating to the geology and evolution of the surface. Meter-scale LROC observations are the basis for interpreting the geology of many landforms on the lunar surface, especially when combined with compositional information. The same observations are also key to mission planning and used to constrain hardware capabilities and navigation requirements.
Dr. Stopar also provides service to the science community as the incoming Chair of the Mapping and Planetary Spatial Infrastructure Team (MAPSIT) steering committee, which developed a framework for making planetary data more useful and accessible, and through several Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) specific action teams that provide a roadmap for science-driven exploration of the Moon.
Dr. Stopar researches lunar volcanic deposits (including the formation mechanisms of small vents and localized pyroclastics and lava flows), impact melt deposits (including how and when they form during the cratering processes), impact craters (how their shapes, including those of secondary impacts, are affected by differing target properties), and regolith (specifically what the uppermost, fragmental surface implies about the geologic history of a region or landform).
Dr. Stopar’s other research interests include low-temperature interactions between minerals and liquid water throughout the solar system, including aqueous alteration on Mars, and potential reactions between minerals and sequestered water-ice at the lunar poles.
