Intro and Keynote: Gordon "Oz" Osinski

Dr. Gordon “Oz” Osinski is a Professor and the NSERC/MDA/CSA/CEMI Industrial Research Chair in Earth and Space Exploration in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Western Ontario (Western), Canada. He holds a PhD from the University of New Brunswick (2004) and a BSc (Hons) from the University of St. Andrews (1999), Scotland, both in Geology. Dr. Osinski’s research interests are diverse and interdisciplinary in nature. His main area of research focuses on understanding impact cratering as a planetary geological process, on the Earth, Moon and Mars. His research portfolio also includes economic geology, Precambrian geology, and comparative studies of periglacial and glacial processes in the Canadian Arctic and Mars.

In addition to is scientific and other achievements, Dr. Osinski has strived to provide vision and leadership to the Canadian and international Earth and planetary Science communities. Dr. Osinski is the Director of the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration (http://space.uwo.ca) at Western, the Principal Investigator of the Canadian Lunar Research Network (http://clrn.uwo.ca), and the founder and Chair of the Planetary Sciences Division of the Geological Association of Canada (http://uwo.ca/earth/GACPSD/). He is a member of several advisory committees, including the Space Advisory Board of the Government of Canada and the Planetary Exploration Consultation Committee of the Canadian Space Agency. He also co-directs the Earth and Planetary Materials Analysis Laboratory (http://epma.uwo.ca) at Western with Dr. Robert Linnen.

Dr. Osinski maintains strong ties to the broader community by acting as a link between the academic community and the media. He has shared his insights on Earth and planetary sciences with various print, radio, and television media. He is passionate about outreach and science communication and recently received the 2017 Faculty of Science Outreach Award for this work.