Lynnae Quick

Lynnae C. Quick is a planetary geophysicist and Ocean Worlds Planetary Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Her research centers on theoretical modeling of cryovolcanic processes on the icy moons and dwarf planets in our solar system as well as modeling volcanic activity on Venus and the Moon. Dr. Quick is a member of the Dawn Europa Clipper, and Dragonfly Mission science teams[1]. She is also a member of the NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) Toolbox for Research and Exploration (TREX) team, and member of NASA's Roadmaps to Ocean Worlds (ROW) team.

Lynnae C. Quick
Dr. Lynnae Quick
Alma materNorth Carolina A&T State University, BS (2005)
Catholic University of America, MS (2009)
Johns Hopkins University, PhD (2013)
Home townGreensboro, North Carolina
Scientific career
FieldsPlanetary and Earth Sciences
InstitutionsGoddard Space Flight Center
ThesisEuropa: Cryomagmatic Processes & Cryovolcanic Surface Expressions (2013)
Academic advisorsBruce D. Marsh, Louise Prockter
InfluencesBeth A. Brown, Reva Williams, Mario Acuña

Education

Quick was raised in Greensboro, North Carolina[2] and graduated from James Benson Dudley High School. In high school, she became interested in astronomy after learning about the death of stars and the creation of supermassive black holes.[2] Her high school physics teacher, John Brown, encouraged her interests, suggesting she pursue a post-graduate degree in astronomy or astrophysics, and connected her with astrophysicist Reva Williams who also encouraged her to pursue a Ph.D. Quick received her Bachelor of Science degree in physics from North Carolina A&T State University in 2005, graduating summa cum laude. As an undergraduate, she was accepted into the Research Experiences for Undergraduates program and pursued research at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.[2] There, she became interested in characterizing exoplanets and in planetary geology. After graduating, she followed this interest to an internship at the Applied Physics Laboratory, with encouragement from astrophysicist Beth A. Brown.[2][3] There, she spent the summer studying Europa, one of Jupiter's moons.[2]

Quick then attended The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where she received her Master of Science degree in physics with a concentration in astrophysics in 2009. There, she pursued research at both the Applied Physics Laboratory, with mentorship from Louise Prockter, and at Goddard Space Flight Center.[2] In 2010, she began her graduate work at Johns Hopkins University, where she received her Doctor of Philosophy degree in 2013 in Earth and Planetary Sciences, specializing in planetary magmatism and volcanology.[2] Her dissertation was entitled Europa: Cryomagmatic Processes & Cryovolcanic Surface Expressions.[1]

Career

After her completing her doctoral degree, Quick became a NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) Fellow at Goddard Space Flight Center, studying volcanic domes on Venus and Europa and later expanding her research to include studying cryovolcanic activity on Saturn's moon Enceladus.[1] During that time, she became a co-investigator on the Europa Imaging System, conducting analyses on the moon's geyser-like plumes and beginning her work as a team member on NASA's Europa Mission.[2][4][5] Both Europa and Enceladus shoot water through their plumes, which is evidence of an ocean that lies below their icy surface.[6] Quick's postdoctoral work centered on characterizing these geologic processes and understanding how they differ across planets and satellites.

Following her postdoctoral fellowship, Quick became a Planetary Geologist at the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Earth and Planetary Studies and in May 2019 became an Ocean Worlds Planetary Scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center [1], specializing in the study of ocean worlds in our solar system and beyond. Quick continues her research program studying cryovolcanic activity and other geophysical processes on moons and planets in our own solar system and has expanded that work to study activity in extrasolar planetary systems.[1] She has applied her expertise to characterizing the surface of the crater-laden dwarf planet Ceres, located in our solar system's asteroid belt.[7] Ceres is thought to have once had a global ocean, which is hypothesized to have slowly frozen over time. Quick and her colleagues have found evidence to support this hypothesis, analyzing patterns of spots of varying brightness across Ceres surface, which correspond to pockets of ocean brine under the asteroid's surface that have been exposed by craters.[7] Quick undertook this work as an Associate Scientist on NASA's Dawn Mission.[8]

In 2020, Quick was the lead author on a NASA study that analyzed 53 terrestrial exoplanets that were all of a similar size to Earth.[9] Her team mathematically modeled the geologic activity of these planets by estimating their internal heating rates as a proxy for potential volcanic activity.[10][11] They compared these estimates, as well as considerations like density and temperature, to Earth as well as Enceladus and Europa, which are known to be ocean worlds, containing significant amounts of water on their surfaces. They found that all 53 exoplanets likely have volcanic activity and that more than a quarter of these exoplanets could be ocean worlds — and could thus potentially sustain extraterrestrial life.[12][10] Future missions, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, can make more observations of these exoplanets to better understand their geologic activity and look for signs of life.[11][13] In addition to continuing her work as a team member on NASA's Europa Clipper Mission, Quick is also a science team member and Lead for the Science Enhancement Option (SEO) on NASA's Dragonfly Mission.

Personal

Quick and her husband, Lamar, live near Washington, DC.

Select Publications
  • Quick, Lynnae C.; Roberge, Aki; Barr Mlinar, Amy; Hedman, Matthew M. (2020-06-18). "Forecasting Rates of Volcanic Activity on Terrestrial Exoplanets and Implications for Cryovolcanic Activity on Extrasolar Ocean Worlds". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 132 (1014). doi:10.1088/1538-3873/ab9504.
  • Quick, Lynnae C.; Glaze, Lori S.; Baloga, Stephen M. (2017-03-01). "Cryovolcanic Emplacement of Domes on Europa". Icarus. 284: 477–488. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2016.06.029.
  • Quick, Lynnae C.; Marsh, Bruce D. (2016-06-01). "Heat Transfer of Ascending Cryomagma on Europa". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 319: 66–77. doi:10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2016.03.018.
  • Quick, Lynnae C.; Glaze, Lori S.; Baloga, Stephen M.; Stofan, Ellen R. (2016-06-01). "New Approaches to Inferences for Steep-Sided Domes on Venus". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 319: 93–105. doi:10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2016.02.028.
  • Quick, Lynnae C.; Barnouin, Olivier S.; Prockter, Louise; Patterson, G. Wesley (2013-09-15). "Constraints on the Detection of Cryovolcanic Plumes on Europa". Planetary and Space Science. 86. doi:10.1016/j.pss.2013.06.028.

References
  1. "Bio - Dr. Lynnae C. Quick". science.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  2. "Lynnae Quick | Scientist". NASA Solar System Exploration. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  3. "Exploring Icy Volcanos and Strange New Worlds". North Carolina A&T - The Alumni Times. 2015-04-16.
  4. Quick, Lynnae C.; Barnouin, Olivier S.; Prockter, Louise M.; Patterson, G. Wesley (2013-09-15). "Constraints on the detection of cryovolcanic plumes on Europa". Planetary and Space Science. 86: 1–9. doi:10.1016/j.pss.2013.06.028. ISSN 0032-0633.
  5. Gifford, Sheyna E. (2014-04-07). "The Importance of Plumes". Astrobiology Magazine. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  6. Shekhtman, Svetlana (2020-06-11). "Ocean Planets Could be Common in Galaxy". NASA. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  7. Redd, Nola Taylor (2017-12-14). "Dwarf Planet Ceres' Bright Spots Suggest an Ancient Ocean". Space.com. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  8. Bartels, Meghan (2018-11-03). "NASA's Dawn Mission Ends, but Its Legacy Lives On". Scientific American. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  9. Shekhtman, Svetlana (2020-06-11). "Ocean Planets Could be Common in Galaxy". NASA. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  10. Quick, Lynnae C.; Roberge, Aki; Mlinar, Amy Barr; Hedman, Matthew M. (2020-06-18). "Forecasting Rates of Volcanic Activity on Terrestrial Exoplanets and Implications for Cryovolcanic Activity on Extrasolar Ocean Worlds". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 132 (1014): 084402. doi:10.1088/1538-3873/ab9504. ISSN 0004-6280.
  11. Carpineti, Alfredo (2020-06-22). "Volcanos And Giant Oceans Could Be Common In Earth-Sized Exoplanets". IFLScience. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  12. Ciaccia, Chris (2020-06-22). "Milky Way could have 'ocean worlds' all over, NASA says". New York Post. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  13. Ashley, Strickland (2020-06-19). "Earth-like planets and ocean worlds could be common in our galaxy, studies say". CNN. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
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