Dr. Mackenzie Day, a sedimentary geologist and planetary scientist, will join EPSS as an assistant professor in July, 2018. Mackenzie received her BS in geology from Caltech and completed her PhD at the University of Texas at Austin. Mackenzie will be joining EPSS after a one-year postdoc at the University of Washington where she is currently studying sandstone deposits on Mars. A native of the Seattle area, Mackenzie was originally drawn to geology by her love of the outdoors. Combining her love of fieldwork and fascination for other planets, Mackenzie’s research focuses primarily on aeolian systems on Earth and Mars. Mackenzie aims to ground her planetary interpretations in a solid understanding of terrestrial geology, and therefore pairs her Mars researches with related field studies on Earth. Mackenzie’s background also extends to experimental sedimentology, and to facilitate such research Mackenzie plans to build a wind tunnel at UCLA. The tunnel will take advantage of the unique geometry in the lab space to support the experiments related to both surface transport, and the accumulation of aeolian stratigraphy. Mackenzie’s group will use a combination of experimental, field, and remote sensing methods to answer questions fundamental to our understanding of the motion of sand. Although her focus is now on Earth and Mars, Mackenzie plans to expand her work to include other planetary bodies and eventually understand sand transport in arbitrary fluid gravity conditions. Mackenzie is excited to return to sunny California and looks forward to joining the EPSS and UCLA community.