People
Staff Biographies
Jonathan I. Lunine, Director of the College of Science Center for Astrobiology, is a Professor of Planetary Sciences and Physics, a Galileo Circle Faculty Fellow, and chair of the Theoretical Astrophysics Program at the University of Arizona. He is a Distinguished Visiting Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His research interests center broadly on the formation and evolution of planets and planetary systems, the nature of organics in the outer solar system, and the processes that lead to the formation of habitable worlds. He is an interdisciplinary scientist on the Cassini mission to Saturn and on the James Webb Space Telescope, as well as co-investigator on a number of other existing or planned NASA missions. Lunine is the author of over 160 scientific papers and of the books Earth: Evolution of a Habitable World (Cambridge University Press, 1999), and Astrobiology: A Multidisciplinary Approach (Pearson Addison-Wesley, 2005). He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Geophysical Union, which awarded him the James B. Macelwane medal. Other awards include the Harold C. Urey Prize (American Astronomical Society) and Ya. B. Zeldovich Award of COSPAR’s Commission B. Lunine serves on the Space Science Advisory Committee and chairs the Solar System Exploration Subcommittee for NASA. He earned a B.S. in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Rochester in 1980, followed by M.S. (1983) and Ph.D. (1985) degrees in Planetary Science from the California Institute of Technology.
Neville J. Woolf, Director of the College of Science Center for Astrobiology, is a Professor of Astronomy and Astronomer at Steward Observatory of the University of Arizona. In 2003 the College of Science of the University of Arizona named him a Galileo Circle Fellow. In his long and distinguished career, Woolf has received many other fellowships and awards including: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow (1966-1968), National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council Senior Postdoctoral Fellow, N.A.S.A. Goddard Institute For Space Studies(1965-66), Fulbright Scholar (1959-61), Radcliffe Student, Radcliffe Observatory, Pretoria, South Africa (1959) and the D.S.I.R. Research Studentship, Manchester University (1956-59). In addition to his many scientific achievements, he has served on committees related to finding terrestrial-like planets and Astrobiology such as Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) Science Working Group (SWG) (2000-present), TPFSWG Biomarkers Subgroup, Astrobiology Roadmap Revision, National Academy Committee on Origin and Evolution of Life (2003-present) and NASA TPFI science working group (2005-present). He is the Principal Investigator of the Tucson node of NASA’s Astrobiology Institute, LAPLACE. He has published over 135 scientific articles. Woolf was instrumental in helping to build the Mt. Graham International Observatory of the University of Arizona and has contributed in a variety of ways to the growth of Steward Observatory and the mentoring of researchers since he arrived in 1974. Woolf obtained a B.Sc. in Physics (1956) from Manchester University and his Ph.D. in Astrophysics (1959) from Manchester University.
Anna H. Spitz, Program Manager College of Science Center for Astrobiology, is also the University of Arizona’s Campus Coordinator for the Arizona Water Institute (AWI). Spitz has worked on various projects since joining the University of Arizona including Steward Observatory’s fuels reduction work at the Mt. Graham Observatory, outdoor lighting issues and work for the Large Binocular and the Large Optics Test and Integration Site projects. At AWI she is responsible for promoting research collaborations among disciplines and with researchers at the other two state universities. Spitz serves on the Vice President for Research’s Institutional Chemical Safety Committee overseeing laboratory safety. Spitz received an A.B. from Wellesley College (1976) and an M.B.A. from Duke University (1978). After working in general contracting for five years, she returned to school and in 1985 received an M.A. in Geological Sciences from SUNY Binghamton. In 1991 she obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in Geosciences for her work on meteorites. She worked in the environmental field for over a decade before joining Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona in 2000. Spitz serves on local Boards and continues to participate in research in the environmental field.
