Associate Professor
David Flannery
Faculty of Science,
School of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
Biography
David joined QUT to develop capabilities in space science and astrobiology. He received a PhD from the University of New South Wales in 2014 for research into life and early terrestrial environments preserved in Archean (4-2.5 billion-year-old) rocks in Western Australia. In 2014-2015, while a Caltech Postdoctoral Scholar based at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), he studied molecular evidence for ancient microbial metabolisms preserved in Earth’s oldest known fossils, and worked on the development of scientific instrumentation that flew to Mars on NASA’s Mars 2020 Rover Mission. He joined NASA as a full time research scientist based in the Planetary Science Section at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,and has since designed and fielded numerous platforms for geological investigations in extreme environments, including multi-million-dollar projects funded by NASA. David has broad interests in the fields of astrobiology, geology and sustainable development, and welcomes collaborations in these areas.Personal details
Positions
- Associate Professor
Faculty of Science,
School of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
Keywords
Geology, Sedimentology, Geobiology, Astrobiology, Precambrian, Archean, Proterozoic, Stromatolites, Mars, PIXL
Research field
Geology, Aerospace engineering, Astronomical sciences
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy in Geology (University of New South Wales)
Professional memberships and associations
Member, Geological Society of America Member, Geological Society of Australia Co-Investigator, Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry, NASA Mars 2020 Mission Member, NASA Mars 2020 Mission Science Team Long Term Planner, NASA Mars 2020 Mission
Teaching
ERB301: Chemical Earth
ERB101: Earth Systems
ERB102: Evolving Earth
SEB104: Grand Challenges in Science
SEB121: Earth in Motion
CLB224: Environmenta l Geochemistry
Experience
David is the 2021 AIPS Tall Poppy Scientist of the Year, a Long Term Planner for NASA's Mars 2020 Rover Mission, and a Co-Investigator of the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry aboard the Perseverance Rover. He has successfully developed a number of hardware and software products for NASA. Several of these technologies have applications in the terrestrial mineral exploration sector.
Publications
- Flannery, D., Allwood, A., Hodyss, R., Summons, R., Tuite, M., Walter, M. & Williford, K. (2019). Microbially influenced formation of Neoarchean ooids. Geobiology, 17(2), 151–160. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/123612
- Allwood, A., Rosing, M., Flannery, D., Hurowitz, J. & Heirwegh, C. (2018). Reassessing evidence of life in 3,700-million-year-old rocks of Greenland. Nature, 563(7730), 241–244. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/123699
- Flannery, D., Summons, R. & Walter, M. (2018). Archean lakes as analogues for habitable Martian paleoenvironments. In E. Grin & N. Cabrol (Eds.), From habitability to life on Mars (pp. 127–152). Elsevier. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/123766
- Flannery, D., Allwood, A., Summons, R., Williford, K., Abbey, W., Matys, E. & Ferralis, N. (2018). Spatially-resolved isotopic study of carbon trapped in ~3.43 Ga Strelley Pool Formation stromatolites. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 223, 21–35. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/123770
- Tobin, T., Flannery, D. & Sousa, F. (2018). Stratigraphy, sedimentology and paleontology of Upper Cretaceous deposits of Day Nunatak, Snow Hill Island, Antarctica. Cretaceous Research, 84, 407–419. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/123768
- Flannery, D., Allwood, A. & Van Kranendonk, M. (2016). Lacustrine facies dependence of highly 13C-depleted organic matter during the global age of methanotrophy. Precambrian Research, 285, 216–241. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/123769
- Thompson, D., Flannery, D., Lanka, R., Allwood, A., Bue, B., Clark, B., Elam, T., Estlin, T., Hodyss, R., Hurowitz, J., Liu, Y. & Wade, L. (2015). Automating x-ray fluorescence analysis for rapid astrobiology surveys. Astrobiology, 15(11), 961–976. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/124543
- Martindale, R., Strauss, J., Sperling, E., Johnson, J., Van Kranendonk, M., Flannery, D., French, K., Lepot, K., Mazumder, R., Rice, M., Schrag, D., Summons, R., Walter, M., Abelson, J. & Knoll, A. (2015). Sedimentology, chemostratigraphy, and stromatolites of lower Paleoproterozoic carbonates, Turee Creek Group, Western Australia. Precambrian Research, 266, 194–211. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/124540
- Schopf, J., Kudryavtsev, A., Walter, M., Van Kranendonk, M., Williford, K., Kozdon, R., Valley, J., Gallardo, V., Espinoza, C. & Flannery, D. (2015). Sulfur-cycling fossil bacteria from the 1.8-Ga Duck Creek Formation provide promising evidence of evolution's null hypothesis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112(7), 2087–2092. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/124539
- Allwood, A., Clark, B., Flannery, D., Hurowitz, J., Wade, L., Elam, T., Foote, M. & Knowles, E. (2015). Texture-specific elemental analysis of rocks and soils with PIXL: The Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry on Mars 2020. Proceedings of the 2015 IEEE Aerospace Conference, 2111–2123. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/124541
QUT ePrints
For more publications by David, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Filter publications:
A complete list of publications is available at: https://www.qut.edu.au/about/our-people/academic-profiles/david.flannery
Awards
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2021
- Details
- AIPS Young Tall Poppy Award
- Type
- Recipient of a Nationally Competitive Research Fellowship
- Reference year
- 2020
- Details
- ARC DECRA Fellow
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2017
- Details
- Voyager Prize
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