Education

Ph.D., Arizona State University, 2009

M.S., University of Pittsburgh, 2003

B.S., Sul Ross State University, 2000

Teaching Responsibilities

Wright currently teaches Geology 1101 (Physical Geology) and Geology 6400 (Principles of Earth Science). Email if interested in taking a “Geology of Mars” (senior/grad level) or “Planets” (undergrad level) course for three credit hours.

Research Interests

Effects of impact cratering on planetary surfaces; fieldwork at several terrestrial impact sites such as Santa Fe in north-central New Mexico; geologic history and composition of the surface of Mars and the Moon through remote sensing/spectroscopy, lander/rover measurements, sample analysis, and terrestrial analogs; comparison of shergottite data to remote data and analog shocked basalts for insight into bias of Martian meteorite spallation/delivery, including shock pressure and alteration; the agreement or lack thereof of models, experiments, and observations (field data) of the impact process.

Current Projects

• Various instrumental (for characterization) and spectral (to mirror Mars or other planetary data sets) analyses of a large collection of shocked basalt from Lonar Crater, India.  See recent LPSC abstracts in 2011 and 2012.
• Comparing impact glasses to volcanic-hydrovolcanic glasses with Mars rover-like instrumentation (Co-I on funded MFRP)
• Fieldwork and sample analyses of breccias near Santa Fe shatter cones are currently underway to determine if the breccias are tectonic/fault-related or impact breccias.

Other Professional Activities

Field trip leader - field trips to the Santa Fe impact structure outside Santa Fe, New Mexico for GSA, MetSoc, and IFSG

Rim Tour Guide – for several classes and NASA workshops around the Meteor Crater, Arizona rim

Reviewer – for journals (JGR-Planets, Icarus, Meteoritics) and proposals (MDAP, MFRP)

Selected Publications

Wright, S.P., and H.E. Newsom (in review) Suevite ejecta at Lonar Crater, India, Icarus.

Wright, S.P., L.L. Tornabene, and M.S. Ramsey (2012), Chapter 14. Properties of impact cratering derived from remote sensing, in “Impact Cratering: Processes and Products” edited by G. Osinski.

Wright, S.P., P.R. Christensen, and T.G. Sharp (2011) Laboratory thermal emission spectroscopy of shocked basalt from Lonar Crater, India, and implications for Mars orbital and sample data, J. Geophys. Res., 116, E09006, doi:10.1029/2010JE003785.

Vesconi, M.A., S.P. Wright, M. Spagnuolo, R.W. Jacob, C. Cerrutti, L. Garcia, E. Fernandez, and W.A. Cassidy (2011) Comparison of four meteorite penetration funnels in the Campo del Cielo crater field, Argentina, Meteoritics & Planetary Science 46, Nr 7, 935–949 (2011) doi: 10.1111/j.1945-5100.2011.01202.x

Ruff, S. W., P. R. Christensen, D. L. Blaney, W. H. Farrand, J. R. Johnson, J. R. Michalski, J. E. Moersch, S. P. Wright, and S. W. Squyres (2006), The rocks of Gusev Crater as viewed by the Mini-TES instrument, J. Geophys. Res., 111, E12S18, doi:10.1029/2006JE002747.

Wright, S.P. and M.S. Ramsey, Thermal infrared data analyses of Meteor Crater, Arizona: Implications for Mars spaceborne data from the Thermal Emission Imaging System, J. Geophys. Res., 111(E1), doi:10.1029/2005JE002472, 2006.

Grant, J. A., et al., including S.P. Wright, Crater gradation in Gusev crater and Meridiani Planum, Mars, J. Geophys. Res., 111(E02S08), doi:10.1029/2005JE002465, 2006.

Tornabene, L.L., J.E. Moersch, G. Osinski, P. Lee, and S.P. Wright, Spaceborne visible and thermal infrared lithologic mapping of impact-exposed subsurface lithologies at the Haughton impact structure, Devon Island, Canadian High Arctic: Applications to Mars, Met. Plan. Sci., 40, 1835-1858, 2005.