Jay Melosh

Jay Melosh is a distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University, with adjunct appointments in Physics and Astronomy, and Aeronautics and Astronautics. His research focuses on planetary impact dynamics, asteroid deflection, lunar geology, and exobiology. He leads NASA missions including GRAIL (lunar gravity mapping) and contributed to the Deep Impact comet mission. Melosh holds a B.S. from Princeton and Ph.D. from Caltech.

His awards include the McCoy Award (Purdue’s top science honor), Hess Medal (American Geophysical Union), and election to the National Academy of Sciences. Notable projects include modeling lunar mascon formation, investigating dinosaur extinction mechanisms, and developing planetary defense strategies against asteroid impacts.

• Research Labs: NASA GRAIL Science Team, Planetary Surface Processes Lab
• Grants: $1M Keck Foundation Grant (2013), NSF Early Career Awards (2014)
• Public Engagement: Featured on National Geographic’s Naked Science, author of Impact Cratering: A Geologic Process