Rate My Professor Jeannette Luna

Dr. Jeannette Luna is the Assistant Dean of Research and Graduate Studies in the Department of Earth Sciences at Tennessee Technological University, where she has been a faculty member for nearly 15 years. She previously served as Chair of the Department of Earth Sciences, faculty trustee on the university's Board of Trustees from June 2023 to June 2025, president of the faculty senate, and advisor for the university's Geo Club. Luna earned her PhD from Montana State University in 2011. In her teaching role within Geoscience, she instructs courses such as Sedimentation and Stratigraphy, Geology for Engineers, Planetary Geoscience, Geological Exploration Techniques, and Physical Geology. Her research focuses on planetary geologic mapping and related topics, including high-resolution geologic mapping of a terraced fan in Garu Crater, Aeolis Mensae, Mars (Luna, 2021, Planetary Geologic Mapper's Meeting Extended Abstract); fjord-head deltas in Finnmark, Norway as analogs for paleolake fan-deltas in Xanthe Terra, Mars (Luna, Crane, and Corner, 2021, Planetary Analog Workshop Extended Abstract); boulder distribution patterns on martian terraced fans, Xanthe Terra (Bohanon and Luna, 2019, GSA Abstract); and calciclastic sediment gravity flows from outcrops of the Mississippian Fort Payne Formation (Wolak et al., 2018, GSA Abstract). She received the 2020-2021 College of Arts & Sciences Award for Innovative Teaching.

In March 2026, NASA selected Luna as a participating scientist on the first Artemis lunar surface science team, leveraging her expertise in planetary mapping to support geology activities, rock sample decisions, and landing site analysis for crewed missions to the Moon's South Pole in 2028. She co-authored an international commentary, "Planetary Geologic Maps: Essential Tools for Scientific Inquiry and Future Human Exploration," published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets (2024), with 24 leaders from 10 countries advocating for increased planetary mapping efforts. Luna has supervised senior thesis projects on fracture analysis of tesserated terrains on Venus (2021), boulder distributions on martian terraced fans (2020), gamma ray signatures in the Fort Payne Formation (2020), and geologic mapping of chaos terrains on Europa (2019). She contributes as a workshop leader, website contributor, and reviewer for the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) in areas of sedimentary geology and planetary science education.