Dr. Gordon “Oz” Osinski
Dr. Gordon “Oz” Osinski is a Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. He is also the Director of the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration at Western and the Canadian Lunar Research Network. Dr. Osinski’s research interests are diverse and interdisciplinary in nature and focuses on understanding the evolution of the surface of the Earth and other planetary bodies as well as the origin and evolution of life. His main focus is on understanding impact cratering as a planetary geological process, on the Earth, Moon and Mars. Dr. Osinski has published over 200 papers in peer-reviewed journals and special papers and has given over 110 conference presentations. He has received numerous awards for this research, including the Young Scientist Medal of the Mineralogical Association of Canada (2015), the W. W. Hutchison Medal of the Geological Association of Canada (2018), and the Barringer Medal of the Meteoritical Society (2021). Dr. Osinski is also involved in several past and ongoing exploration-related activities. Most recently, he is the PI for the Canadian Space Agency Concept Study for an “Integrated Vision System for Characterization of the Lunar surface”. He is also a Co-I on the PanCam instrument on the 2022 ExoMars mission to Mars. Dr. Osinski is also involved in providing geology training to Canadian and US astronauts. He is also passionate about outreach and science communication and leads several initiatives, including Space Matters and Impact Earth.