Dr. Huntress is the Director of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington where he is developing new lines of interdisciplinary research in geobiology and astrochemistry. He was the Associate Administrator for Space Science at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC, from 1992 to 1998, where he was responsible for NASA's robotic science missions to observe the universe and to explore the solar system. During his tenure at NASA, Dr. Huntress was the originator of many new research and flight programs including NASA’s Astrobiology program, the Discovery line of low cost planetary flight missions, the current line of Mars Exploration Missions, and he had a key role in creating and implementing the Cassini/Huygens mission. At the Carnegie Institution, he continues today as a spokesman and strategist for the scientific exploration of space. Dr. Huntress began his career at Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory where his research group gained international recognition for its pioneering studies of chemical evolution in interstellar clouds, comets, and planetary atmospheres.