A Geomorphologist
Jani Radebaugh
Jani Radebaugh is a planetary scientist from the Department of Geologic Sciences at Bringham Young University. Radebaugh specializes mainly in the geologic research of other planetary bodies, such as Saturn's moon Titan, Jupiter's moon Lo, and others. They have done and continue to do significant exploratory research with the help of the Cassini Spacecraft. Much of their work involves the geologic features found on these cellestial bodies, including the lakes, rivers, and mountains of Titan, and the extreme volcanic activity occuring on Lo. More recently Radebaugh works on the science team for NASA's Dragonfly mission, a vehicle that will be flying over and on the surface of Titan - a project that is likely to take decades.
I find this work to be incredibly fascinating. For humans to be able to travel, remotely or in person, to other planetary bodies is an amazing example of how far technology and science have come in our short tenure on Earth. Their work regarding analyzing surface models of Titan is especially interesting, as they have been able to find Earth-like geologic features such as lakes and mountains. To be able to map a new planet is exploratory and groundbreaking science in its most raw form.
Notable Papers and Research
Lakes of Titan - 2007
Radebaugh's most cited paper, The Lakes of Titan, uses radar data from the Cassini Mission to analyze geologic and hydrologic features on the surface. As we see from the above image, the findings were significant, and the existence of lakes confirmed in multiple states (partially filled, filled, and dry). Another interesting result of the research was the visibility of lake textures and surfaces. As they stated in the paper, they would eventually be able to determine the cause of these textures.
Stofan E. R. et al.. The Lakes of Titan. Nature. 4 January, 2007. Vol 445.
Cryovolcanism on Titan - 2013
Radebaugh has completed multiple research projects using radar imagery and topographic mapping of Titan's surface. This paper was conducted in order to settle some of the controversies surrounding the cryovolcanic activity, or lack thereof, on Titan. The team of researchers chose a few areas of interest to try and find out the cause of the formation certain geographic features, whether they be caused by cryovolcanoes, fluvial movement, or erosion. They concluded that some of Titan's largest mountains were formed by cryovolcanism, which is an incredible discovery that also clears up a lot of controversy surrounding the geomorphologic history of Titan.
Lopez R. et al.. Cryovolcanism on Titan. Journal of Geophysical Features: Planets. March, 2013. Vol 118 issue 3.