Student Information
Graduate Student
Geological Sciences
The College of Lib Arts & Sci
Long Bio
Saira is a PhD candidate and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow in geological sciences at the School of Earth and Space Exploration working primarily with Dr. Clarke and Dr. Christensen. She earned her B.S. degree in geosciences from Georgia State University where she also received her Geographic Information Systems (GIS) certificate. Shortly after graduating, she interned at both NASA Ames Research Center and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center where she researched topics on the geomorphology of Martian fluvial landscapes and the volcanic history of the Tharsis region, Mars. To date, Saira has participated in field investigations of volcanic landscapes in Iceland, the Canary Islands, Yellowstone, Idaho, Mexico, Arizona, and New Mexico.
Education
- PhD Geological Science, Arizona State University 2019 - current
- B.S. Geosciences, Georgia State University 2018
- GIS Certificate, Georgia State University 2018
Research Interests
Saira's interests lie in taking a big-picture approach to understanding planets in our Solar System, from studying their interiors to their exteriors. In collaboration with Dr. Kerber of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Saira's primary research project meshes together her understanding of volcanism, a fundamental planetary process, with large-scale atmospheric dynamics of Mars. Her secondary line of research is in collaboration with Dr. O'Rourke to simulate the combined effects convection in a basal magma ocean and the inner core on the evolution of the Moon's magnetic field.