Jim Bell

Jim Bell

Jim Bell is an Assistant Professor in the Cornell University Astronomy Department. He received his B.S. from Caltech in 1987 and his Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii in 1992, performing research on Mars surface mineralogy and climate variations using infrared and optical telescopes at Mauna Kea Observatory. He spent 3 years as a National Research Council postdoctoral research fellow at NASA's Ames Research Center in California prior to coming to Cornell. His studies primarily focus on the geology, chemistry, and mineralogy of planets, asteroids, and comets using data obtained from telescopes and spacecraft missions. He has published approximately 20 first-authored and approximately 50 co-authored research papers in peer reviewed science journals, authored or co-authored more than 200 abstracts and scientific conference presentations, is a frequent contributor to popular astronomy magazines and radio shows, and is currently working on a book about the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission. He is a member of the science teams of the NASA Mars Pathfinder, NEAR, Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR), Mars '05 Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Mars 2003 Mars Exploration Rover (Athena) missions.