Amanda Hendrix

The Planetary Science Institute has announced that Amanda Hendrix, a PSI senior scientist for 12 years, will become the Deputy CEO effective Jan. 1, 2025, and will become CEO on Jan. 1, 2026. 

Hendrix will succeed Mark V. Sykes, who has led PSI since 2004.

Hendrix has more than 25 years of experience in planetary science. Her research focuses on ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy of solar system surfaces, including moons, small bodies, and ocean worlds, to understand surface composition and space weathering effects. Hendrix received a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and a master’s degree and doctorate in aerospace engineering sciences from the University of Colorado. As a graduate student and post-doctoral researcher at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at University of Colorado, Hendrix gained valuable experience in UV spectroscopy and instrumentation. After LASP, she spent 12 years at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and served as deputy project scientist on the Cassini mission, before moving to PSI in 2012. 

She was a co-investigator on the Galileo Ultraviolet Spectrograph and on the Cassini Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph instruments, and is currently a co-investigator on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Lyman Alpha Mapping Project instrument. She is a member of the Europa Clipper Ultraviolet Spectrograph science team. She has been a principal investigator on numerous NASA research and data analysis and Hubble Space Telescope programs. Hendrix is the Principal Investigator on NASA’s Toolbox for Research and Exploration program to develop tools and research methods for exploration of airless surfaces in preparation for human and robotic in situ resource utilization missions.

Hendrix is a leader of the planetary community, having chaired the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society and the NASA Outer Planets Advisory Committee, and she serves as a member of the NASA Advisory Council. She has also chaired and served on committees of the National Academies. Hendrix has been honored by the International Astronomical Union by the naming of Minor Planet 6813 Amandahendrix and is a Fellow of the American Astronomical Society.

Hendrix co-authored “Beyond Earth: Our Path to a New Home in the Planets,” published by Penguin/Random House. Besides research, she enjoys teaching and sharing her love of planetary science with students and the public.

“Under Mark Sykes’ leadership for the last 20 years, PSI has grown to play a major and vital role in the planetary science sphere, and beyond,” Hendrix said. “I am delighted to step into this role. I look forward to working closely with the PSI board and the fantastic science and administrative staff on ambitious and inspirational science and education projects. It is truly an honor to serve the PSI community.”

“I attribute PSI’s strong sense of community and its continuing growth and success to the hard work and dedication of its scientists, educators and administrative staff,” said Sykes. “Amanda has been a significant part of that, and I fully expect that she will take us in new directions and to greater successes in the future.”

“Come 2026, I will become just another scientist within the Institute, and I am very much looking forward to it!” Sykes said. “There is no end to the science to be done.”