Professor Penelope King
Professor
Ph.D. Arizona State University; B.Sc. Hons, Australian National University
email penny.king@anu.edu.au
call +61 2 61250667
link ANU Researcher Portal profile

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About

Employment 

Assoc Dean (Research) – College of Science – ANU 2021-2023

Prof/Snr Fellow/Fellow – Research School of Earth Sciences (RSES) – ANU 2012-

Snr Res Sci III/Res Prof – Inst. Meteoritics / Earth Planet Sci – Uni New Mexico 2007-2011

Assoc (Tenured)/Asst Prof – Dept. Earth Sciences – Uni Western Ontario (UWO) 1999-07

Honours 

Fellow, Geochemical Society 2023

Fellow, American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2019

Fellow, Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) 2019

AGU Joanne Simpson Medal for Mid-Career Scientists in Earth & Space Sciences 2019

Australian Research Council Future Fellow 2014-18

Clare Burton Award for Equity & Diversity (ANU VC's Staff Excellence & Service Award) 2017

Snr Fellow, Advance HE 2017

NASA Gp Award to MSL (Mars Science Laboratory) team 2013, 2015

Adjunct Prof/Spec Grad Faculty – Guelph-Waterloo Physics Inst/Schl Environ Sci Uni. Guelph – Canada 2011-15

Science Co-Investigator for the APXS team on the MSL mission 2007

MSA Distinguished Lecturer 2005

Advisory Panels

Aust Acad Science, Space Sci Rev, Planet Sci 2020

NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return End-to-End Internat Sci Anal Gp 2010-11

USA Nat Res Coun, Space Studies Board, Decadal Survey – Mars Science 2009-10

USA NASA & NSF Panels & Canadian Space Agency Advisory Comms

Editor

Principle Editor – Rev Mineralogy & Geochemistry v84 2018

Contrib Editor – A Life in Science – Elements 2012-17

Assoc Editor – Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 2012-14

Principle Editor – Mineralogical Assoc Canada Short Course v33 2004

Activities

International & national conferences – instigator/lead for >dozen conferences in research & teaching

Lead - Australasian Uni Geosci Educators’ Network 2015

Councilor - MSA & Mineral Assoc Canada

Fellows committes – AGU (member), Geochem Soc–Eur Assoc Geochem (chair)

Awards committees – AGU, Geochem Soc, MSA, Mineral Assoc Canada

Panel & graduation speaker

Affiliations

science Research area
  Groups

Research interests

Professor Penny King's research group examines how volatile species – carbon-oxygen-hydrogen-sulfur compounds that prefer to be in a gas phase – are distributed on planets.  Tracking the sources and sinks of volatile elements lies at the heart of understanding how life originated, how planetary atmospheres develop, how ore deposits form, and how climate is regulated. 

Our approach is unique in applying a combination of methods to track volatiles including petrology, high to low temperature experiments, geochemistry, thermodynamics, field sampling, and new analytical approaches (e.g., synchrotron, micro-analysis, and a remote X-ray spectrometer on Mars’s Curiosity rover).

Projects

Teaching information

Current teaching

I teach Planetary Science EMSC3022/EMSC6022 which is open to students who have completed a semester of first year.  This course aims to explore the planets, dwarf planets, moons and other solid objects in our solar system and beyond to exoplanets.  We examine processes that are important in Planetary Sciences and unify our studies of planets and help us explore for life beyond Earth.

Most years, students do Special Topics and ASC projects with me, and I have supervised several College of Engineering, Computing & Cybernetics Honours students with recent projects including “The role of wetting on carbon capture”, “Reaction of marble with SO2”, “Effect of mineral orientation on femto-second laser pits” and “Alteration of meteorites”. 

Other teaching

I have taught and convened the following courses:

  • Igneous & Metamorphic Petrology (Introductory and Advanced courses)
  • Field Schools – Maritimes of Canada, Utah, Arizona, California
  • Blue Planet: An Introduction to Earth Systems Science
  • Teaching and Research Methods in Earth & Planetary Sciences
  • Introductory Geology (First Year)
  • Environmental Geochemistry & Geochemistry
  • Mars: From its Interior to its Moons
  • Short courses in economic geology, spectroscopy, micro-analytical techniques, planetary science and gas-solid reactions

 

Students

I am the primary PhD supervisor for Rachel Kirby and Riley Baile (links below).  Jack Brady is undertaking Engineering Honours (2023-24)

Recent graduates include Sarah McIntyre (RSAA PhD student), Caleb McCollom (MESA), Emily Robson (Hons) and Fiona Nguyen (Hons).  Sam Hill and Max Etherington completed ASC projects in 2023, and our group has a number of valued student affiliates: Julia Brand, Aditya Patkar, Geoff Bonning and Leo Baeza.

If you are interested in organising a project, please contact me.

Location

Research School of Earth Sciences, Jaeger 5

Publications