Professional Biography

Dr. Jack D. Farmer received degrees in Geology from California State University, Chico (B.A.), the University of Kansas (M.S.) and U.C. Davis (Ph.D.) and has since held positions as Senior Museum Scientist and Lecturer (U.C. Davis), Senior Petroleum Geologist (Exxon, Western Division Production, Los Angeles), and Visiting and Adjunct Professorships in the Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences at UCLA.

Jack joined NASA-Ames Research Center in 1991 as a National Research Council Senior Fellow. In 1994 he became a Civil Servant and Research Scientist in the Exobiology Branch. In August of 1998, he accepted a tenured faculty position at Arizona State University with the Department of Geological Sciences. Immediately after his arrival he assumed the leadership for the NASA funded Astrobiology program at ASU. His interests include early biosphere evolution, the microbiology and biosedimentology of thermal springs and other extreme environments, and strategies for exploring Mars and other bodies in the Solar System for a past or present biosphere.

From 1998 to 2003 he was the Director of the Astrobiology Program at Arizona State University. He has testified before Congress, providing testimony to the House Committee on Science Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics. He has held appointments on various advisory committees to NASA including the National Academies Space Studies Board, Space Science Advisory Committee (SSAC), the Solar System Exploration Sub-Committee (SSES), Committee on the Review of Planetary Protection Requirements for Mars Sample Return Missions for the SSB Div Eng & Phys Sci NRC of the National Academies, the Solar System Exploration Roadmap Development Team, Instrumentation for Mars Exploration Working Group, Mars Ad hoc Science Team (MAST), Mars 2003 Landing Site Steering Committee, Mars 2005 Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission Science Definition Team, JPL's Microrobotics Science Advisory Group, the Mars 2001-2005 Science Working Group, and the Mars 2001 Science Definition Team. He has served as Chair of the NASA Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG), Chair of the NASA Astrobiology Mars Focus Group and was also Co-Chairman of the Native American Advisory Committee at NASA Ames Research Center.He has served on the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Biogeoscience Meetings Committee and is past Chair (2005-2008) of the Geobiology-Geomicrobiology Division of the Geological Society of America. He is a member of the Geological Society of America, the American Geophysical Union, the Paleontological Society, and is Sequoyah Fellow of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society. He is a participating Scientist on the Mars Exploration Rover Mission, serving as a long-term planning lead and member of the Geology theme group, representing Astrobiology. He is also a member of the CheMin instrument team on the Mars Science Laboratry mission, planned for launch in 2011.