Dr. Erica Jawin is a postdoctoral research geologist in the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the National Air and Space Museum. Erica’s research investigates how the surfaces of rocky bodies evolve by integrating geomorphology with remote sensing techniques including radar, laser altimetry, and spectroscopy. Her research focuses on small bodies—particularly rubble pile near-Earth asteroids—as well as the Moon and Mars. Erica earned her Bachelors degree from Mount Holyoke College in 2012 with a major in Astronomy and minor in Geology, and her Masters degree from Brown University in 2015 and her PhD from Brown University in 2018, both in the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences. Erica joined the Smithsonian Institution in 2018 as a postdoctoral research geologist in the Department of Mineral Sciences at the National Museum of Natural History, and in 2021 she joined the National Air and Space Museum.
Erica’s active research projects include (1) using ground-penetrating radar to study the structure of the martian polar caps, (2) characterizing asteroid Bennu’s global geology through its boulder population, and (3) studying spectroscopic and morphologic signatures of explosive volcanism on the Moon and Mercury. Erica is an active member of the OSIRIS-REx sample return mission to asteroid Bennu, the OSIRIS-APEX mission to asteroid Apophis, and the SHARAD radar instrument onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Erica has been featured in various print, TV, and radio outlets including Scientific American, ABC news, and BBC radio.
Recent papers:
Jawin, ER, RL Ballouz, AJ Ryan, HH Kaplan, TJ McCoy, MM Al Asad, JL Molaro, B Rozitis, LP Keller. Boulder Diversity in the Nightingale Region of Asteroid (101955) Bennu and Predictions for Physical Properties of the OSIRIS-REx Sample (2023). Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 128, e2023JE008019. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JE008019
Jawin, ER, BA Campbell, JL Whitten, GA Morgan (2022). The Lateral Continuity and Vertical Arrangement of Dust Layers in the Martian North Polar Cap From SHARAD Multiband Data. Geophysical Research Letters, 49, 17, e2022GL099896. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL099896
Jawin, ER, TJ McCoy, KJ Walsh, HC Connolly, R-L Ballouz, AJ Ryan, HH Kaplan, M Pajola, VE Hamilton, OS Barnouin, JP Emery, DN DellaGiustina, MG Daly, CA Bennett, DR Golish, ME Perry, RT Daly, EB Bierhaus, MC Nolan, HL Enos, DS Lauretta (2022). Global geologic map of asteroid (101955) Bennu indicates heterogeneous resurfacing in the past 500,000 years. Icarus, 381, 114992. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2022.114992
Jawin, ER, JW Head (2021), Patterns of Martian Deglaciation: Assessing the Distribution of Late Amazonian Paraglacial Features in Mid-Latitude Craters, Icarus, 355, 114117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2020.114117
Jawin, ER, KJ Walsh, TJ McCoy, OS Barnouin, R-L Ballouz, H Susorney, HH Kaplan, JL Molaro, D DellaGiustina, CA Bennett, KN Burke, D Scheeres, M Daly, M Al Asad, RT Daly, EB Bierhaus, HC Connolly Jr., M Nolan, H Enos, and DS Lauretta (2020), Global patterns of mass movement on Bennu, Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets,125 (9), e2020JE006475. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JE006475
Jawin, ER, S Valencia, R Watkins, J Crowell, C Neal, G Schmidt (2019), Lunar Science for Landed Missions Workshop Findings Report, Earth and Space Sciences, 6, 2–40. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018EA000490
Jawin, ER, JW Head, and DR Marchant (2018), Transient Post-Glacial Processes on Mars: Geomorphologic Evidence for a Paraglacial Period, Icarus, 309, 187-206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2018.01.026