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John Roma Skok SM’10

I have dreamed of exploration since my earliest nights staring up at the stars and dreaming of all the worlds to explore. I focused my early efforts in high school and college studying the next world to be explored, Mars. In addition to some independent research projects I worked with the Mars Exploration Rovers and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Missions to explore the Red Planet remotely.

I am still primarily focused on this effort as I am finishing a Ph.D. program in Planetary Sciences at Brown University researching the composition of Martian surface. Recent years has seen my exploration interests expand to some the most alien places here on Earth, specifically caves and the Antarctic. Last fall I spent my first season in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, one of the best Mars analogs on Earth, comparing the effects of the coldest terrestrial desert to what we observe on Mars. This ignited what I hope will be a lifelong effort to explore the poles. Caves provide another alien environment that could be only meters from the surface but unrecognizable in terms of landscape and biology. I have considerable sport caving experience and am working toward more expedition participation with a focus on both the science of the subterranean as well as the exploration process itself. As a student member of The Explorers Club, my explorations are just beginning and I am always on the search for collaborators for future exploration of the poles, caves and Mars.

Published by : cyatsuk