Ken Williford

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Experiments with BFF
Agüera y Arcas, B. et al. "Computational Life: How Well-formed, Self-replicating Programs Emerge from Simple Interaction"
arXiv GitHub
Kenneth H. Williford

Kenneth H. Williford

Research Investigator, Blue Marble Space Institute of Science

My research spans geology, geochemistry and astrobiology, with a recent focus on the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission. I am motivated by a desire to understand the fundamental nature of life in the universe. What is life? Where is life? How have life and environment evolved together? These questions lead me to rocks that preserve ancient habitats and possibly life on Mars, the earliest records of life on Earth, and times of great change on both planets.

Education

  • 2007
    Ph.D., Earth and Space Sciences (certificate in Astrobiology) University of Washington, Seattle, WA Dissertation: Biogeochemistry of the Triassic–Jurassic boundary
  • 2000
    M.S., Geological Sciences University of Washington, Seattle, WA
  • 1998
    B.S., Natural Resources, cum laude University of the South, Sewanee, TN

Selected Positions

  • 2021–
    Research Investigator Blue Marble Space Institute of Science
  • 2014–
    Co-Investigator, SHERLOC instrument NASA Mars 2020 rover mission
  • 2014–2021
    Deputy Project Scientist NASA Mars 2020 rover mission
  • 2013–2021
    Visiting Associate, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences California Institute of Technology
  • 2012–2021
    Founding Director, JPL Astrobiogeochemistry Laboratory (abcLab) Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  • 2012–2021
    Research Scientist Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  • 2010–2012
    Research Associate University of Wisconsin, Madison
  • 2007–2009
    Research Associate Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia
Download Full CV (PDF)

Publications

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Projects

Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover

I support surface operations as a science team member and SHERLOC Co-Investigator on the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission.

From the early stages of mission design in 2014 through early surface operations in 2021, I served as Mars 2020 Deputy Project Scientist, working to establish scientific vision and strategy and negotiate science-engineering risk trades that cut across spacecraft and mission systems.

More recently, I led the effort to synthesize findings from our exploration campaign in the Margin unit that unfolded over a year-long, >10 km traverse through olivine- and carbonate-bearing rocks located near the edge (or "margin") of the ancient Jezero lake system. Read the paper in Science.

My current focus is design and development of novel approaches for automated analysis and visualization of image and spectroscopy data from rover instruments.

evostitch

A virtual microscopy platform in development that includes a terapixel 3D image processing backend and browser-based frontend for collaborative exploration and analysis of large microscopy datasets.

Gunflint 2D prototype Gunflint 3D prototype (desktop)