Linda Elkins Tanton

Linda (Lindy) Elkins-Tanton is a leading figure in the early evolution of rocky planets and planetesimals and the principal investigator of the NASA Psyche Mission, which launches in 2022 to explore a unique metallic asteroid orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter. Her research includes theory, observation and experiments concerning terrestrial planetary formation, magma oceans and subsequent planetary evolution including magmatism and interactions between rocky planets and their atmospheres. She also promotes and participates in education initiatives, in particular, inquiry and exploration teaching methodologies, and leadership and team-building for scientists and engineers. Elkins-Tanton, who is a faculty member in the School of Earth and Space Exploration and vice president of ASU’s Interplanetary Initiative, was selected by the academy for her distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. In addition to her new National Academy of Sciences membership, Elkins-Tanton is a two-time National Academy of Sciences Kavli Frontiers of Science fellow and served on the National Academy of Sciences Decadal Survey Mars panel. In 2016 she was named a fellow of the American Geophysical Union, and in 2018 a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2020, the National Academy of Sciences awarded her the Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship.