Raymond Arvidson, PhD, is presently a James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor and director of the NASA Planetary Data System’s Geosciences Node at Washington University in St. Louis, where he is also a Fellow of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences. His primary focus has been on teaching and conducting research on the environments of Earth, Mars and Venus—for which he has received several awards of excellence.

An expert in his field, Raymond has played an instrumental role in the development and implementation of both orbital and landed missions to Mars and Venus. And for this work, he has been honored with three NASA Public Service Medals, dozens of NASA citations for excellence and the 2016 Lester W. Strock Award from the Society for Applied Spectroscopy, among many others. During the past several decades, Raymond has also participated in numerous National Research Council and NASA panels and committees.