Paul Byrne

Paul Byrne, associate professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, is the director of the Earth and Planetary Remote Sensing Laboratory at WashU. The laboratory is the site of the Geosciences Node of NASA’s Planetary Data System. Byrne’s research focuses on comparative planetary geology — comparing and contrasting the surfaces and interiors of planetary bodies, including Earth, to understand geological phenomena at the systems level. Byrne’s research projects span the solar system from Mercury to Pluto and, increasingly, to the study of extrasolar planets. He uses remotely sensed data, numerical and physical models and fieldwork in analog settings on Earth to understand why planets look the way they do.