Jani Radebaugh | |
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| Born | 1970 (age 54–55)[1] |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Brigham Young University (BS) University of Arizona (PhD) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Planetary science |
Jani Radebaugh (/ˈdʒeɪniˈrædəbɔː/;JAY-neeRAD-ə-baw)[2] is an Americanplanetary scientist and professor ofgeology atBrigham Young University[3] who specializes in field studies ofplanets. Radebaugh's research focuses onSaturn's moonTitan,Jupiter's moonIo, the Earth'sMoon,Mars andPluto. Radebaugh is a Science Team member of theDragonfly mission to Titan, the IVO Io mission proposal, and the Mars Median project. She was an Associate Team Member of theCassini-Huygens RADAR instrument from 2008 to 2017, and was a graduate student scientist for Io for theGalileo mission. She does science outreach through her work as an expert contributor to theScience/Discovery programHow the Universe Works and other television and radio programs. In December 2012, Radebaugh and her colleagues on theCassini mission announced the discovery ofVid Flumina, a liquid methane river on Saturn's moon Titan over 320 km (200 mi) long and resembling the Nile river.[4]
Radebaugh received a BS fromBrigham Young University in Physics and Astronomy and a PhD from theUniversity of Arizona in Planetary Science.[5] She has been a professor of Geological Sciences at Brigham Young University since 2006 (full professor since 2019). She has conducted field research in terrestrial locations as Earth analogues for geological features on other worlds within theSolar System, including theSaharan,Arabian andNamib deserts to study giantsand dunes similar to those onSaturn's moonTitan,lava lakes in theAfar Valley,Vanuatu, andKilauea as analogues for the active lava lakes ofJupiter's moonIo. She traveled toIran'sLut Desert to study wind-carved ridges, termedyardangs, which are found onMars,Venus and Titan and has spent four seasons (05-06, 08–09, 13–14, 16–17) inAntarctica with the U.S. Antarctic Search for Meteorites, where she helped recover meteorite samples from around the Solar System including theMoon and Mars.[6]
She has analyzed data from theCassini RADAR instrument and contributed to the formulation of theDragonfly rotorcraft lander mission proposal.[7][8] She was also involved in theGalileo mission, the Io Volcanoes Observer mission proposal, and the Median project for Mars.[9]
Radebaugh has appeared as an expert contributor on several TV programs, including theScience/Discovery seriesHow the Universe Works, and onBBC TV shows, NOVA episodes, and theScience Channel's,The Planets and Beyond.
In 2024, the asteroid45690 Janiradebaugh was named after Radebaugh.[1]
Radebaugh lives inProvo, Utah and is a member ofthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was married in 2020.
In November 2018, Radebaugh co-authored an article opposed to theAmerican Geophysical Union (AGU) removal of a Brigham Young University job posting, following criticism of the university's hiring policy, which references its honor code, a portion of which prohibits homosexual behavior. Radebaugh supported the controversial posting's inclusion on AGU job boards, arguing that ideological diversity was important to a constructive dialogue about bias in hiring.[10]
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