Shannon Curry

Dr. Shannon Curry is an Associate Professor in the Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences (APS) Department at the University of Colorado, Boulder and is currently the Principal Investigator of the NASA Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission. Prior to this, she served as the Assistant Deputy Director of Planetary Science at the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focus is on the evolution of planetary atmospheres, specifically atmospheric escape from weakly magnetized planets. She is also involved in mission concepts, mission design and instrument development for future flight missions to other bodies in the solar system. She is currently a science team member on NASA’s Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission, Project Scientist for NASA’s ESCAPADE mission (phase D), and a collaborator on NASA’s Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) program. She also serves on NASA’s Planetary Advisory Committee (PAC).

Recent Publications:

Curry, S.M., (2023), MAVEN Mission Perspectives and Approaches to Inclusion, Frontiers in Astronomy and Space, Volume 10-2023

Curry, S.M., Tatum, P., Mitchell, D., Luhmann, J.G., McFadden, J., Ruhunusiri, S., DiBraccio, G., Ramstad, R. and Xu, S. (2022). Ion acceleration in Mars’ twisted magnetotail.  Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 517(1), L121-L125