Maria received a Ph.D. in geology and planetary science from the University of Arizona in the spring of 2009. Her graduate studies primarily involved the study of glaciers and ice sheets, climate change, and ice-related processes and erosional/depositional landforms on Earth and Mars. As a graduate student, Maria worked with imagery of the Martian surface acquired by the High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) onboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). She was also a member of the Phoenix Mars Mission team and participated in the MESSENGER mission to Mercury.
Maria is currently a post-doctoral fellow with the Smithsonian Institution in the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. In addition to her interests in glaciers and climate change, she is studying tectonic features on the Moon using imagery from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Banks also continues to participate in the MESSENGER and MRO missions.
In addition to geology and planetary science, Maria enjoys hiking and other outdoor activities. She is also a musician and plays the harp. She has an undergraduate degree in music performance and has performed all over the world, including venues such as Casals Hall in Tokyo, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York City and shows on Broadway. She continues to enjoy performing on the harp in addition to her many scientific studies and will be bringing a small lap harp with her to Antarctica — perhaps the first harp to make it to the continent!
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