Biography:
Claire has been working with Dr Farid Salama in the
Astrophysics & Astrochemistry Laboratory group as a fellow
of the NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) since 2008.
Together with NPP fellow Cesar Contreras, Claire has
been involved in the novel coupling of a Reflectron Time-Of-Flight (ReTOF) mass spectrometer to the NASA Ames Cosmic
Simulation Chamber (CSC), developed by Farid Salama. She is currently using this set-up to investigate the formation of
carbon aerosols in the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan, to help interpret data from the
Cassini mission. Claire is also involved in a project to study lunar
dust in support of NASA's planned return of humans to the Moon.
Claire obtained her Masters of Chemistry with Industrial Experience (MChem) from the University of Manchester, U.K.,
in 2003. Her MChem degree included a one-year placement working in the analytical chemistry group at GlaxoSmithKline and
in the final year she researched the use of plasma as a tool to destroy CFCs, with
Prof. C. Whitehead. Claire subsequently moved to London, where
she obtained her PhD with Prof. S. D. Price, at University
College London, U.K, researching reactions relevant to planetary atmospheres. Her research involved experimentation with a
Position Sensitive Coincidence (PSCO) technique coupled with Time of Flight (TOF) mass spectrometry to probe the reactivity,
dynamics and energetics of doubly charged ions with neutral species. Claire continued this line of research in 2007 during
her post-doc in Prague working with Dr. D. Schröder.
In her free time Claire enjoys rock climbing, hiking and exploring California.
Claire's major publications can be found on the Astrochemistry Laboratory's Publications Pages.
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