Rate My Professor Lynn Carter

Lynn Carter is a Professor in Planetary Sciences and the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, serving as Associate Department Head in Planetary Sciences and University Distinguished Scholar. She received her B.S. in Astronomy and Physics (magna cum laude with honors) from the University of Illinois in 1999, M.S. in Astronomy from Cornell University in 2002, and Ph.D. in Astronomy from Cornell University in 2005, with a dissertation on investigating mantling deposits on Venus and regoliths on asteroids using radar polarimetry. Carter joined the University of Arizona in 2016 as Associate Professor and was promoted to Full Professor in 2025. Previously, she worked as a Research Space Scientist in the Planetary Geodynamics Lab at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center from 2010 to 2016 and as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institution Center for Earth and Planetary Studies from 2004 to 2010.

Carter's research focuses on volcanism and impact cratering on terrestrial planets and the Moon, surface properties of asteroids and outer Solar System moons, planetary analog field studies, climate change, and development of radar remote sensing techniques such as polarimetric imaging and ground-penetrating radar. She utilized the Arecibo radar system to study Venus, the Moon, and asteroids; serves as Deputy Principal Investigator for the Mini-RF radar on Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter; and is Co-Investigator on SHARAD (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter), REASON (Europa Clipper), RIMFAX (Mars 2020 Perseverance rover), and Shadowcam (Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter), as well as Science Team Lead for VenSAR on ESA's EnVision mission to Venus. Her achievements include the University of Arizona Distinguished Scholar Award (2021), NASA Early Career Achievement Medal (2016), Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2015, awarded 2019), NASA Fellowship for Early Career Researchers in Planetary Science (2006), and First Runner Up for NASA Government Invention of the Year Award (2022). Notable publications comprise 'Evidence of Combined Erosive and Constructional Formation Mechanisms for a Lunar Sinuous Rille' (2025, Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets) with Hon and Sutton; 'Ground penetrating radar observations of subsurface structures in the floor of Jezero Crater, Mars' (2022, Science Advances) with Hamran et al.; and 'Burial Depths of Extensive Shallow Cryptomaria in the Lunar Schiller-Schickard Region' (2023, Planetary Science Journal) with Bramson et al.