Hi there!
I’m Lauren Mc Keown, a planetary scientist interested in weird and wonderful icy surface processes on other worlds. I hail proudly from Ireland, and my career has recently brought me full-circle to Orlando, near Space Coast, USA where my fascination with planetary science first began as a teenager. I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Central Florida, currently working on building my group and new FROSTIE (Facility for Research Observing Simulated Topography of Icy Environments) lab. My research focuses on how planetary surfaces—particularly on Mars, Europa and small bodies—evolve through physical processes like sublimation, transient liquid brine activity, impacts and atmosphere-surface interactions. I’m especially interested in how volatile phase-change dynamics can shape landscapes across the solar system and what these processes can tell us about environmental change, habitability, and geological history.
My work combines laboratory experiments in thermal-vacuum chambers, simulant development and analysis, remote sensing, and terrestrial field analogs to investigate how ice interacts with regolith and other surface materials under extraterrestrial conditions. I completed my PhD in planetary science at Trinity College Dublin and have previously worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, USA, the Natural History Museum in London, UK and the University of Cambridge, UK.
Alongside my position at UCF, I am also a Research Affiliate at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and enjoy continuing collaborations there. I am an affiliate on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) team and was previously a Europa Clipper affiliate. Two of my main values are creativity and community. I love nothing more than developing creative approaches to answering complex questions in planetary science. It is even more fun when I get to do it with wonderful multidisciplinary collaborators.
Outside of research, I’m passionate about science communication and engaging with students. I love teaching Astronomy here at UCF and getting to work with students and postdocs to explore planetary surface processes together. In my spare time, I am an avid reader, try to keep fit with Lagree and I have two conflicting hobbies; doing my own GelX nails and wheel-throwing pottery. I am and will always be, a Halloween enthusiast. I am also deeply obsessed with my cat, Pam, who accompanies me on many trips and is also fascinated by ice and snow.
