Katie Stack Morgan

Kathryn Marie Morgan Stack
Born
Kathryn M. Stack
EducationWilliams College (BS}
California Institute of Technology (MS, PhD)
Scientific career
WorkplacesJet Propulsion Laboratory
ThesisReconstructing Past Depositional and Diagenetic Processes through Quantitative Stratigraphic Analysis of the Martian Sedimentary Rock Record (2015)
John P. Grotzinger

Kathryn Morgan Stack is a scientist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration where she is known for her work in the exploration of planets such as Mars.

Early life and education

Stack grew up in California, but spent summers in Maine. She received her bachelor's degree from Williams College in 2008, and went on to earn an M.Sc. (2011) and a Ph.D. (2015) from the California Institute of Technology under the direction of John P. Grotzinger.

Career

Stack has been involved in Mars exploration efforts since 2014. Her work as a Research Scientist in the Geophysics and Planetary Geosciences Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, has been centered on expanding our knowledge of Mars' geology and planetary sciences. She has also been actively involved with the Mars Science Laboratory mission concurrently, serving as a Participating Scientist until 2022 after serving as a Collaborator in the Science Office from 2012 to 2015. She has also been involved in the development and implementation of the Mars 2020 Rover Mission, an ambitious project that aims to solve the secrets of the Red Planet, as the Deputy Project Scientist since 2017. Her work on the Mars project includes working with images from the Curiosity rover and examining rocks to determine if they have potential biosignatures. As part of her work, Stack Morgan also names geographical places on Mars. Stack continues to contribute to Mars exploration research as of 2026. In March of 2026 Stack co-authored a study on the geological formation of domes on the floor of the Jezero crater on Mars. The study was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.

Honors and awards

Stack was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2013. She has received multiple NASA Group Achievement Award that were given to the Mars Science Laboratory spanning from 2013, 2015, and 2017. Her contributions to the Mars 2020 Project have been recognized with a series of Voyager Awards spanning from 2018 to 2021. In 2022 she received a NASA Early Career Achievement Medal (2022).[better source needed] She received the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Edward Stone Award for Outstanding Research Publication in 2021 for her 2018 paper in the journal Sedimentology.

Selected publications

References

  1. 1 2 Acquisto, Alex (2017-03-30). "Scientists are naming locations on Mars after iconic Maine towns, landmarks". Sun-Journal. pp. B2. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
  2. 1 2 3 Morgan, Kathryn Stack. "JPL Science: Kathryn Stack Morgan". science.jpl.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
  3. ↑ Stack, Kathryn Marie Morgan (2015). Reconstructing Past Depositional and Diagenetic Processes through Quantitative Stratigraphic Analysis of the Martian Sedimentary Rock Record (PhD thesis). California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/Z9FN144M. OCLC 1367376332.
  4. ↑ Overbye, Dennis (2021-02-19). "Perseverance's Pictures From Mars Show NASA Rover's New Home". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
  5. ↑ Kelly, Emre (2017-09-24). "We're already walking on Mars". Las Cruces Sun-News. p. 0. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
  6. ↑ Achenbach, Joel (2024-07-28). "Rover discovers rock with 'potential biosignature'". The Atlanta Constitution. pp. A7. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
  7. ↑ Brean, Henry (2014-11-30). "Nevada town a place-name --on Mars". Reno Gazette-Journal. pp. A10. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
  8. ↑ Barnes, Robert; Gupta, Sanjeev; Treiman, Allan; Sholes, Steven; Paar, Gerhard; Tate, Christian; Bechtold, Andreas; Stack-Morgan, Katie; Bell III, James F.; Maki, Justin; Horgan, Briony; Nuñez, Jorge; Traxler, Chris; Ortner, Thomas; Shoemaker Thackston, Emileigh S. (2026). "Intrusion-Induced Forced Folding Model for the Origin of Séítah Formation Domes on the Jezero Crater Floor, Mars". Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. 131 (3) e2025JE009463. Bibcode:2026JGRE..13109463B. doi:10.1029/2025JE009463. ISSN 2169-9100.
  9. ↑ "Katie Stack". Forbes. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
  10. ↑ "Office of Research and Development (ORD) | Profile Kathryn M. Stack Morgan". www.jpl.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
  11. ↑ "The Edward Stone Award Recipients | Science and Technology". scienceandtechnology.jpl.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 2024-12-21. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
  12. ↑ Stack, Kathryn M.; Grotzinger, John P.; Lamb, Michael P.; Gupta, Sanjeev; Rubin, David M.; Kah, Linda C.; Edgar, Lauren A.; Fey, Deirdra M.; Hurowitz, Joel A.; McBride, Marie; Rivera-Hernández, Frances; Sumner, Dawn Y.; Van Beek, Jason K.; Williams, Rebecca M. E.; Yingst, Robin Aileen (2019). "Evidence for plunging river plume deposits in the Pahrump Hills member of the Murray formation, Gale crater, Mars". Sedimentology. 66 (5): 1768–1802. Bibcode:2019Sedim..66.1768S. doi:10.1111/sed.12558. hdl:10044/1/71198. ISSN 1365-3091.