NASA NEWS BRIEFS
RELEASE: 02-70AR					June 12, 2002

NASA Astrobiology Institute: The NASA Astrobiology Institute congratulates two new 
members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Dr. John P. Grotzinger of the 
NAI Harvard lead team and Dr. Gerald Schubert of the NAI University of California Los 
Angeles lead team join 13 other NAI researchers as members of the academy. Only 
72 new members of the NAS were selected this year. Election to membership is 
considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded a U.S. scientist or engineer.

NASA Scientist Elected: Dr. Lynn Rothschild of NASA Ames Research Center has been 
elected president of the Society of Protozoologists. The society has an international 
membership of nearly 1,000. Founded in 1947, the society covers all aspects of 
protists (unicellular eukaryotic organisms, ranging from the amoeba and paramecium 
to the causative agents for malaria, giardiasis and sleeping sickness). Protists are 
critical to modern biology in fields from aging research and photosynthesis to 
parasitology and AIDS. They played a pivotal role in evolutionary biology as the first 
organisms with nuclei, and as such gave rise to animals, plants and fungi.

Scientist Chosen for Mars Rover Mission: Dr. Nathalie A. Cabrol, a SETI scientist 
based at NASA Ames, was selected to study sedimentary processes resulting from 
water activity at the sites to be studied by the 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers. She 
will join the Athena science team, led by Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University. 
The first rover is due to touch down on Mars in January 2004. Cabrol's primary role 
will be to identify landforms and deposits from images taken by Mars Global Surveyor 
cameras and to recommend optimal rover traverses.