Dr. Rebecca Williams

Rebecca M. E. Williams is a planetary geologist who studies how landscapes evolve on Mars and Earth.  Her research focuses on the history of water and surface environments on Mars through the lens of field-based analog studies on Earth. Using sedimentary rocks, she reconstructs ancient environments and investigates their potential habitability.  She has led comparative planetary geomorphic fieldwork studies at river, alluvial fan and delta sites in Utah, California, Australia, Patagonia, and the Chilean Atacama Desert. 

Her work has involved collecting and analyzing orbiter and rover images of Mars on several NASA missions. She was selected as a Participating Scientist on the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, and in 2024 became Deputy Principal Investigator (DPI) for the Mastcam and MARDI cameras.  On the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, she is a Co-Investigator on the SHERLOC-WATSON camera team.  In addition, she has served as a science team member with the MOC, CTX and THEMIS VIS cameras on spacecraft orbiting Mars.  

Dr. Williams received her BA in physics and geology from Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She earned her Ph.D. in planetary science from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. She is an elected Fellow of the Geological Society of America and was awarded the NASA Carl Sagan Fellowship for Early Career Researchers.  Dr. Williams lives and works near Madison, WI.

Topic: Snapshots of Mars’ Watery Past from NASA’s Rovers

Two NASA rovers are traversing the martian surface, revealing new insights into environmental changes that took place billions of years ago. Although Mars today is a stark desert, its rocks preserve compelling evidence of a once watery past. This presentation will feature images captured by the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers as they journeyed across two impact craters. Through meticulous work by an international team of scientists, rover data have enabled detailed reconstructions of ancient environments. After traveling a combined distance of more than 45 miles, the rovers have opened an extraordinary window into Mars’s changing past. Along their routes, scientists have identified sedimentary rocks that record ancient rivers, deltas, lakes, and vast sand seas.

Dr. Rebecca Williams, a member of the science camera teams, will present her favorite images and highlight major scientific discoveries from the remarkable journeys of two robotic explorers on Mars. More than 13 years after landing in Gale Crater, Curiosity has traveled from the crater floor to ascend the towering central peak, Mount Sharp. The newer rover, Perseverance, arrived on Mars in early 2021 accompanied by the Ingenuity helicopter. This innovative pair worked together for three years before parting ways, as Perseverance departed the crater to explore the enigmatic Nili Planum. Among the mission’s most compelling results is the discovery of potential biosignatures preserved in ancient lake mudstones within Jezero Crater.  From this epic trek, Dr. Rebecca Williams will share striking images that reveal new insights, geological puzzles, and breathtaking Martian landscapes.