Amanda Hendrix
Director and Chief Executive Officer
Professional History
Dr. Hendrix has 25+ years of experience in planetary science research. Hendrix received a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from the University of Colorado Boulder. As a graduate student and post-doctoral research at LASP/Univ. Colorado, Hendrix gained valuable experience in UV spectroscopy and instrumentation and began a career of investigating solar system surfaces (largely airless bodies) in the UV. After LASP, she spent 12 years at JPL, progressing from a science planner on Cassini to Deputy Project Scientist, before moving to PSI in 2012. She was a co-investigator on the Cassini UVIS instrument, is currently a co-investigator on the LRO LAMP instrument, and is a member of the Europa Clipper UVS science team. She has led observing and research teams and published results in numerous NASA R&A and Hubble Space Telescope programs. Hendrix is the Director/PI of the NASA Toolbox for Exploration (TREX) team. She co-authored Beyond Earth: Our Path to a new Home in the Planets, published by Penguin/Random house in Nov 2016. Besides research, she enjoys teaching and sharing her love of planetary science with students and the public.