Monday 3 and Tuesday 4 December 2007
Organised by Dr Jean-Pierre Lebreton, Dr Ingo Mueller-Wodarg and Professor Roger Yelle
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Dr Cesar Bertucci (Speaker)
Dr César Bertucci was born in Cordoba, Argentina in 1974. He obtained an MSc degree in Astronomy from the National University of Cordoba in 2000 and a PhD degree in Planetology and Space Physics from Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse (France) in 2003. In February 2004 he joined the Cassini magnetometer team as a research associate at Imperial College London. Dr Bertucci's research interests focus on experimental investigations of magnetic fields and plasmas in the solar system. He has participated as a research assistant and as a research associate in the Mars Global Surveyor, Cassini and Venus Express missions. Dr Bertucci has been honoured by the American Geophysical Union with the Outstanding Student Paper award in 2003. His work has been supported by the national research councils of Argentina, France, and the United Kingdom. Since 2006, Dr. Bertucci is a postdoctoral fellow of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (ex-PPARC) and lead for the Titan science within the Cassini magnetometer team.
Dr Bruno Bézard (Speaker)
Bruno Bézard received a PhD in Astrophysics from the University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris 6) in 1982. He is currently a director of research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and is working on planetary atmospheres within the Observatoire de Paris in Meudon, France. His main interests are in the infrared spectroscopy of planetary atmospheres using Earth-based or spacecraft instruments and in the investigation of the atmospheres' radiative budget. He has been part of the Voyager/Neptune Infrared Spectroscopy Team and has developed infrared sub-systems for the DISR instrument aboard Titan's Huygens probe. He is presently co-I of the CIRS instrument aboard the Cassini spacecraft, and of the PFS and VIRTIS infrared spectrometers aboard Venus Express. He is also Director of the Programme National de Planétologie of the Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers (INSU).
Dr Iannis Dandouras (Speaker)
Dr Dandouras was born in Athens, Greece. A graduate in Physics from the University of Athens, he then prepared his PhD in Space Physics at the University of Toulouse, France. After completing it, he spent several months at the University of California, Berkeley, and at the University of Washington, Seattle. Back to Toulouse, in 1989, he has since been research physicist at CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), at the CESR laboratory (Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements). Iannis Dandouras' research interests include the dynamics of the magnetospheres of Earth and of the outer planets, and in particular Saturn's magnetosphere and its interaction with Titan, this moon with a unique, very dense atmosphere, resembling the pre-biotic atmosphere of Earth.
His research interests include also solar wind-magnetosphere coupling, terrestrial magnetosphere dynamics, and in particular the dynamics of the inner magnetosphere: the area where multiple particle populations coexist and interact (plasmasphere, ring current, radiation belts, exosphere). He is involved as co-investigator in the MIMI experiment onboard the Cassini mission to Saturn, in the IMPACT experiment onboard the STEREO two-spacecraft solar study mission, and in the SERENA experiment which is under preparation for the BepiColombo mission to Mercury. Back to Earth, he is PI (principal investigator) of the CIS experiment onboard the four Cluster spacecraft, and Deputy PI of the HIA experiment onboard the Double Star mission, which is the fruit of cooperation between the Chinese National Space Administration and ESA.
Dr Andrew Coates (Speaker)
Professor Andrew Coates gained his first degree at UMIST (1978), 
and his MSc (1979) and D.Phil (1982) in plasma physics from the University of Oxford. He has been at UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory since, apart from brief guest scientist' visits to MPS, Lindau and University of Delaware. At UCL he was a Royal Society University Research Fellow (1989-99), Reader (1996-2007) and Professor (2007-date). He is now Deputy Director of MSSL and is Head of Planetary Science. He is currently lead co-investigator for the electron spectrometers on Cassini-Huygens (part of the CAPS instrument) and on Venus Express (part of ASPERA-4). He is also co-investigator on several other space missions (including Venus Express and Rosetta) and he leads the PanCam team for ExoMars. His research interests include the plasma interaction with unmagnetized objects (Titan, Venus, Mars, comets), planetary magnetospheres, planetary surface studies, space instrumentation and space weather;
Dr Mike Flasar (Speaker)
F. Michael Flasar received the Ph.D. in Physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is an astrophysicist in the Planetary Systems Laboratory, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. His primary research is the meteorology and dynamics of planetary atmospheres, including those of Mars and the outer planets. He was a co-investigator on the Voyager infrared spectroscopy experiment (IRIS), a member of the Galileo Radio Propagation team, and a participating scientist on the Mars Global Surveyor Radio Science team. He is the principal investigator of the Cassini Composite Infrared Spectroscopy experiment, and a member of the Cassini Radio Science team.
Professor Caitlin Griffiths (Speaker)
Caitlin Griffith's research focuses mainly on the structure of planetary atmospheres, a field that she arrived at after obtaining BA in Mathematics from Johns Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. in Physics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She is now an Associate Professor at the University of Arizona. Her work investigates the chemical, dynamical and thermal structures of planetary atmospheres, using ground-based and spacecraft observations. These data are interpreted with radiative transfer calculations to measure the temperature, composition and dynamical signatures of planetary atmospheres. These features are further analyzed with simple chemical, radiative and thermodynamical models to address questions on atmospheric structure and evolution. Her work presently concerns Saturn's largest moon, Titan, which she regards as a deranged version of Earth. Yet, her efforts have also addressed the atmospheres of the Giant Planets and their cousins, Brown Dwarfs.
Professor Robert E Johnson
Robert E Johnson is John Lloyd Newcomb Chair in Engineering Physics, University of Virginia and visiting professor at NYU, Physics Department. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and holds an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University, Sweden. Professor Johnson's research covers interactions of photons, ions and electrons with gases and solids: theory and simulations for space physics. The topics covered include Applications to Space Physics; Evolution of planetary atmospheres: Mars, Titan, Io; production of gas over planet surfaces: Moon, Mercury, Europa, Enceladus; alteration of planetary surfaces: moons of outer planets; alterations of interstellar grains; application to Mass Spectrometry of biomolecules: model ejecta for instruments for sample analysis; and cross sections for Ion-molecule collisions. He has published 2 monographs, 24 chapters/reviews and 270 referred journal papers.
Dr Sebastien Lebonnois (Speaker)
Since I began my PhD at the CESR in Toulouse ten years ago, I've been working in developing photochemical and General Circulation models for Titan, Mars, and most recently Venus. After defending my PhD in june 2000, I spent two years of postdoc on an NRC grant at NASA Ames Research Center with Dr. Chris McKay. Then I came back to France, at the Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique, first on a CNES postdoctoral grant, then on a CNRS tenure position.
Professor Andrew Nagy (Chair)
Professor of Space Science and Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Michigan. Author of over 350 refereed publications, numerous book chapters, encyclopedia entries and co-author of the book "Ionospheres" published by Cambridge University Press. Past Chair and Member of numerous NASA, NSF, NRC/NAS, COSPAR and IAGA Boards, Committees and Panels. Past Principal and Co-Investigator of NASA, Russian and Japanese satellite missions.
Professor Darrell Strobel (Chair)
Professor Strobel is a Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences of The Johns Hopkins University with a joint appointment as Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and is on the Principal Research Staff of Hopkins' Applied Physics Laboratory. He is the author of approximately 165 journal publications and 17 book chapters. Professor Strobel is currently the Cassini Mission Orbiter Interdisciplinary Scientist for Aeronomy and Solar Wind Interaction and a Co-Investigator on the New Horizons Pluto Kuiper-Belt Mission. Previously, he served as Co-Investigator and Science Team Leader of the Ultraviolet Spectrometer Experiment on the Voyager Mission. Professor Strobel was a member of the Outer Planets Study Team of the NAS-ESF Joint Working Group on Planetary Exploration, 1983, that constructed plans for the Cassini-Huygens Mission and wrote its science objectives.
Professor Strobel is a member of the American Astronomical Society - Division of Planetary Sciences, a fellow of the American Geophysical Union,and member of the International Astronomical Union. He served as an Associate Editor, Journal of Geophysical Research, 1976-1979, Space physics section; 1982-1984, Atmospheres section; Associate Editor, Icarus, 1980-2006; on the Committee on Solar and Space Physics, SSB, NAS, 1982-1985, the Space Science Board (SSB), 1985-1988, the Space Studies Board, 1988-1989, National Academy of Sciences (NAS), on the Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration (COMPLEX), SSB, 1992-1996, on the Committee on International Programs, Space Studies Board, 1996-1998, and is currently on COMPLEX for a second term. He served as Chairman of the Committee on Upper Atmosphere, American Meteorological Society, 1982-1984, and as the Chair and Vice Chair of the Fachbeirat, MAX-PLANCK INSTITUT fur Kernphysik, 1994-2001.
Dr Gabriel Tobie (Speaker)
Gabriel Tobie is a CNRS researcher at the University of Nantes, France. He was awarded a PhD, in Astrophysics, at University Paris 7 in 2003. His research interests are in theoretical investigations of the internal dynamics of icy satellites (Titan, Europa, Enceladus) and their interactions with surfaces and atmospheres. He is involved in the interpretation of the data gathered by the Cassini-Huygens mission in order to constrain the evolution models of Titan and Enceladus.
Dr Tetsuya Tokano (Speaker)
Tetsuya Tokano graduated from the University of Cologne in Germany in geophysics. He received his PhD in 2000 at the same university under the supervision of Fritz Neubauer. His research interest focuses on planetary atmospheres, particularly on Titan's meteorology. Throughout the years he conducted modelling studies on various aspects of Titan's lower atmosphere, e.g. general circulation modelling, methane condensation and precipitation or lightning generation. During his post-doc from 2001 to 2004 at DLR (German Aerospace Center) he investigated the water exchange between the surface and atmosphere of Mars with respect to its astrobiological relevance and participated in the preparation for the astrobiological Beagle 2 mission to Mars. He edited an interdisciplinary multi-author book "Water on Mars and Life" published by Springer. In 2004 he returned to the University of Cologne and participated in the analysis of the data of the Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument (HASI), which landed on Titan in 2005. In 2007 he actively contributed to the proposal for TANDEM (Titan and Enceladus Mission) in the framework of ESA's Cosmic Vision programme.
Dr Véronique Vuitton (Speaker)
Véronique Vuitton was born in Paris, France, in 1976. She obtained a Masters in Physical Chemistry from the University of Paris Pierre et Marie Curie in 1998 and a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Paris-Val-de-Marne in 2002. Her graduate research was performed under the supervision of François Raulin at LISA, Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques.
She was a research associate with Jim Ferris at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy NY, in 2002-05 and since 2005, she is a research associate with Roger Yelle at the University of Arizona in Tucson AZ.
Her scientific fields of interest are related to planetology & astrochemistry. Studies of organic chemistry in Titan's atmosphere using complementary approaches: laboratory experiments (photochemical simulations, reactivity of metastable states, optical properties and chemical composition of solid macromolecules), theoretical modeling (neutral and ionic gas phase photochemistry) and observational data (Cassini Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer).
V. Vuitton is a member of the International Commission for Planetary Atmospheres and their Evolution (ICPAE).
She is the author of 15 scientific papers related to the field of Planetology and Astrochemistry.
Professor Roger Yelle (Speaker and Organiser)
Roger Yelle is a Professor of Planetary Sciences at the University of Arizona. He studies atmosphere of the planets and satellites in the out solar system and has been invovled in several NASA unmanned missions, most recently the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn and Titan.