Dr. James B Garvin served as NASA's Chief Scientist from October 2004 - September 2005 and is known for his foundational work in NASA's Mars explorational programs. Chief Scientist]

Garvin arrived at the Goddard Space Flight Center

Goddard Space Flight Center

The Goddard Space Flight Center is a major NASA space research laboratory established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center. GSFC employs approximately 10,000 civil servants and contractors, and is located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA. GSFC,...

 since 1984 where he first served as a staff scientist developing remote sensing instrumentation and has been based there or at the nearby NASA headquarters in Washington D.C. since then. His career has spanned disciplines as Earth system science, Mars Exploration, lunar exploration, Venus, asteroids, and the outer planets. He remains co-investigator on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor

Mars Global Surveyor

The Mars Global Surveyor was a US spacecraft developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. It began the United States's return to Mars after a 10-year absence. It completed its primary mission in January 2001 and was in its third extended mission phase when, on 2...

, Canada's Radarsat

RADARSAT

The RADARSAT constellation is a pair of Canadian Remote Sensing satellites. The constellation consists of:* RADARSAT-1, launched 1995* RADARSAT-2, launched 2007-The Company:...

, and ESA's Envisat

Envisat

Envisat is an Earth-observing satellite. It was launched on 1 March 2002 aboard an Ariane 5 from the Guyana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guyana into a Sun synchronous polar orbit at an altitude of...

 missions.

Garvin was born in Poughkeepsie, New York  and attended Brown University

Brown University

Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

 graduating with a bachelor of science degreee in Computer Science in 1978. He earned his Masters of Science also in Computer Science from Stanford and returned to Brown where he earned his Masters of Science and PhD in planetary geological sciences 1984. He lives with his wife and two children in Columbia, Maryland.

Awards and recognition

Garvin was twice awarded NASA Outstanding Leadership medals for his work on the science strategy behind NASA's Mars Exploration Program. He was also awarded the 2004 William Rogers Award from Brown University for his contributions to society.