Libby Ives, a researcher from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), has made significant strides in understanding ancient landscapes, extending her expertise from the Midwest to the surface of Mars. After earning her PhD in geosciences, Ives engages in studies that provide fresh insights into planetary environments.
Although many might associate remote locations with Antarctica, Ives” career has taken her to even more distant realms. Originally studying glacial sediments in Antarctica, she later leveraged her sedimentary skills to analyze Martian landscapes for NASA. Her research emphasizes the importance of ancient landscapes in revealing details about the environments of planets, both historically and in contemporary contexts.
Born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Ives initially sought a career in science driven by a desire to work outdoors. Her passion for geosciences ignited during her undergraduate studies at Northern Michigan University, where she appreciated the interdisciplinary aspects of the field. “You get to use your physics, biology, and chemistry knowledge, and you get to put it all together to tell the story of the Earth and how things came to be,” she explained.
Following her graduation, Ives intended to take supplementary classes at UWM but was quickly drawn into a field expedition to Iceland with UWM professor Tom Hooyer. This opportunity led her to join Hooyer”s lab as a graduate researcher, focusing on glacial geology for her master”s degree. After Hooyer”s untimely passing in 2016, Ives completed her project at Iowa State University.
After a brief time outside academia, Ives returned to UWM to pursue her PhD in geosciences. Her advisor, John Isbell, was preparing for an expedition to Antarctica to study sedimentary rocks from the Late Paleozoic Ice Age, a period when ice sheets existed at both poles over 300 million years ago. This journey unexpectedly resulted in Ives appearing in an IMAX documentary titled “Dinosaurs of Antarctica,” created in collaboration with a Chicago-based film company, the Field Museum, and the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County.
While in Milwaukee, Ives also contributed to a geological mapping project with the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, which prepared her for a significant role at NASA. In 2022, she joined NASA”s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a postdoctoral researcher for the Mars 2020 mission. Her responsibility involves interpreting images from the Perseverance rover to reconstruct Mars” geological history. “I”m a physical sedimentologist,” she stated, focusing on understanding how individual grains of sand or mud were transported and what those processes reveal about the depositing environment.
Now back in the Midwest, Ives serves as a geologist with the Michigan Geological Survey, where she is instrumental in developing a new research program focusing on the state”s glacial geology. Additionally, she teaches upper-level geology courses at her undergraduate alma mater. After a career spanning continents and planets, Ives is pleased to have established roots in a place where her expertise can thrive. Her work not only enhances our understanding of how landscapes respond to climate changes but also informs geological resource management and deepens knowledge regarding Mars” geology and climate history.
