Megan Russell is a planetary scientist in the Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences at the University of British Columbia. After completing a BSc in Space Science at York University, she moved to Vancouver to work at an Earth remote sensing company before starting her MSc in Planetary Science at UBC with Dr. Catherine L. Johnson. She uses observations collected from orbit around other planets to help determine certain characteristics about their surface or subsurface, and tie this into their evolution. She is currently studying volcanism on Venus. Unsolved questions include: Is Venus volcanically active today? Earth and Venus formed in the same solar system neighbourhood, but why did they end up so different? Is the surface composed of regular lava such as we see near Hawaii, or is it something more exotic and how can we use the shapes of volcanic features in images to test theories? She continues to follow a lifelong curiosity with anything and everything space related.
