David Alegre Vaz is currently auxiliary researcher at CITEUC - Center for Earth and Space Science Research of the University of Coimbra. He is a PhD in Geology and seeks to use remote sensing data, field studies, and modeling to constrain the rates and histories of processes that shape planetary surfaces. His research falls within three main categories: geological and geomorphological mapping, development of new tools to assist in the analysis of planetary surfaces, and study of the geological history of Mars. He investigates how Mars changed geologically and environmentally over time, and how tectonics, erosion, fluvio-deltaic processes, and wind shaped its surface. Overall, exploring and understanding the geological history of planet Mars is his main commitment. He does this by quantifying the evolution of landforms on Mars and reconstructing the planet's geological and paleoenvironmental evolution. For instance, he developed a novel algorithm capable of automatically map tectonic structures and model tectonic strains on Mars. This technique was used to perform a morphometric analysis of faults scarps and the modelling of their degradation history, providing insight into the environmental conditions on Mars through time. He collaborated in the first detection of eolian ripple migration on Mars using orbital high-resolution imagery, demonstrating that Martian winds are still capable of transporting sediments, and that Mars still possesses a significant external geodynamic activity. Since then, he has been working in the characterization of present-day eolian activity on Mars, for instance developing new techniques to map dune fields, quantifying sedimentary fluxes, and reporting on the activity of new types of bedforms. He also studied putative fluvio-deltaic deposits on Mars, showing that most deposits may have been formed in subaerial settings, not necessarily requiring the occurrence of extended periods of clement climatic conditions. He published more than 20 peer-reviewed papers in high-impact journals, such as Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Icarus, Geophysical Research Letters, Geology, Geomorphology and JGR: Planets. Selected contributions to the study of Mars' geology: - Vaz, D. A.; Silvestro, S.; Chojnacki, M.; Silva, D. C. A. (2023). Constraining the mechanisms of aeolian bedform formation on Mars through a global morphometric survey. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 614, 118196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2023.118196 - Silvestro, S.; Chojnacki, M.; Vaz, D. A.; Cardinale, M.; Yizhaq, H.; Esposito, F. (2020). Megaripple Migration on Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets 125 (8), e2020JE006446. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JE006446 - Vaz, D. A.; Di Achille, G.; Hynek, B. M.; Nelson, W.; Williams, R. M. E. (2020). Martian fan deposits: Insights on depositional processes and origin from mass balance survey. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 533, 116049. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2019.116049 - Vaz, D. A.; Sarmento, P. T. K.; Fenton, L. K.; Barata, M. T.; Michaels, T. I. (2015). Object-based dune analysis: automated dune mapping and pattern characterization for Ganges Chasma and Gale Crater, Mars. Geomorphology, 250, 128-139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2015.08.021 - Vaz, D. A.; Spagnuolo, M. G.; Silvestro, S. (2014). Morphometric and geometric characterization of normal faults on Mars. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 401, 83-94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2014.05.022 - Silvestro, S.; Vaz, D.A.; Ewing, R.C.; Rossi, A.P.; Fenton, L.K.; Michaels, T.I.; Flahaut, J; Geissler, P.E. (2013). Pervasive aeolian activity along rover Curiosity’s traverse in Gale Crater, Mars. Geology, 41(4), 483-486. https://doi.org/10.1130/G34162.1