Today we have the next installment of our Meet the Planet Four Team series, featuring Candy Hansen, principal investigator (PI) of Planet Four.

Image Credit: Planetary Science Institute

Name: Candice (“Candy”) Hansen-Koharcheck

What is your current position and where/institution?

I’m a Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute

Where are you originally from/where did you grow up?

I was born in Pasadena CA, and grew up near there in Pomona CA.  I got my B.A. in Physics from California State University, Fullerton and my Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles.

What are your research interests/what do you work on?

I work on climate and seasonal processes – on Mars, Triton and Pluto.  I also study the plumes of Enceladus.

In 3 lines explain your PhD thesis?

My PhD thesis was to model the climates of Pluto and Triton.  With my model I can predict when and where the polar caps will form, how warm the surface will be, and what the atmospheric pressure is as a function of time.  These predictions can be compared to observations, to learn about the physical properties of the surface and ices.

Why are you interested in Mars?

I love studying the polar caps of Mars – they are made out of dry ice, and when the ice evaporates in the spring there is lots of action!

 What do you do as Deputy Principal Investigator for HiRISE?

Early in the project I worked a lot on our processes for operating the camera. Now that is all very routine, and I focus on understanding seasonal processes.

What other NASA missions have you been involved in?

I have worked on Voyager, Cassini, Mars Polar Lander and Juno.

What is your favorite movie?

Star Wars of course, because I love science fiction.  Maybe not so obvious – French Kiss, The Dish, and Serenity.

What is your favorite book?

Heinlein’s “Time Enough for Love” is my all-time favorite, but I also like books by Carl Hiassen and John Grisham.

What is the song you currently can’t get out of your head?

Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Girls just wanna have fun’

What three albums would you bring with you to a desert island?

Fleetwood Mac, Linda Ronstadt, and …

Favorite cocktail or beverage?

Corona beer

Today we have the next installment of our Meet the Planet Four Team series, featuring Chris Snyder from the Zooniverse development team.

Name: Chris Snyder

What is your current position and where/institution?

Technical Project Manager at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, IL, US.

Where are you originally from/where did you grow up?

I was born in Philadelphia, PA. Lived there for a bit, then in equal times Tennessee, Indiana, and Ohio until 2012 when I moved to Chicago.

In 3 lines explain what you do as part of the Zooniverse development team?

My primary task to manage development of Zooniverse projects. I also handle a large portion of ongoing project maintenance. Lastly, I spend a lot of time exploring ways of getting Zooniverse projects into the hands of more people.

Why do you find interesting about Mars?

It’s the first logical place for us to colonize in our solar system. Seems reasonable to learn as much as we can about it before we travel there!

What is your favorite movie?

Tie between The Matrix and The Prestige.

What is your favorite book?

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

What is the song you currently can’t get out of your head?

Just Jammin’ by Gramatik

What three albums would you bring with you to a desert island?

Ooo, that’s a tough one. Tool – Lateralus, Pendulum – Immersion, and Metallica – The Black Album

Favorite cocktail or beverage?

Bells Oberon. Sorry, not much of a cocktail drinker!

Inspired in part by the Meet the Team on the Daily Zooniverse, we’re planning a series of posts to help you get to know better some of the people behind Planet Four. Our first Meet the Planet Four Team entry is  devoted to Anya Portyankina from the Science Team.

Image credit: The Planetary Society

Name: Ganna (Anya) Portyankina

What is your current position and where/institution?

I am currently a Research Associate at LASP (Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics) at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Where are you originally from/where did you grow up

I was born in the USSR but grew up in Ukraine.

What are your research interests/what do you work on?

I am interested in different active processes in our Solar System that involve ices. Ice-covered comets, polar regions of Mars, icy satellites of giant planets – in all these worlds interactions of ice with atmospheres, sunlight and other heat sources bring to life exciting exotic phenomena.

In 3 lines explain your PhD thesis?

My PhD thesis is about interaction of Martian polar ices with the atmosphere. The large part of it is about observations and modeling of cryo-venting – exactly what Planet Four is about. Another part is about polar clouds that are created at times when seasonal polar caps sublimate in spring.

Why are you interested in Mars?

I find Mars exciting because despite it is an alien and still mostly unknown world it it similar enough to our home planet and it can be reached by humans in not too remote future. Feels nice to work towards that goal.

What is your favorite movie?

“Into the wild” directed by Sean Penn

What is your favorite book?

This one is the toughest questions for me! I can probably reduce my absolute favorites to 3: “Definitely Maybe” by Strugatsky brothers (Soviet time SciFi novel), “The Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov, and “Love in the Time of Cholera” by Gabriel García Márquez. They are so different that it is hard even to compare them, not speaking of ranking…

What is the song you currently can’t get out of your head?

“Rock’n’roll Nerd” by Tim Minchin

What three albums would you bring with you to a desert island?

Something jazzy, like Jeff Healey “Among friends”, something with a swing like Robbie Williams “Swing when you are winning”, and something good for dancing on the beach like DLG’s “Gotcha!”, but I’d rather have a radio!

Favorite cocktail or beverage?

Since I have moved to Boulder – definitely beer.