Dr. Jim Bell is a professor in Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration in Tempe, Arizona, and an adjunct professor in the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. As president of The Planetary Society, he is an active and prolific public commentator on science and space exploration, earning the 2011 Carl Sagan Medal from the American Astronomical Society. Jim has appeared on numerous radio and television shows, including NBC's Today Show and PBS's NewsHour, as well as programs on the Discovery, National Geographic, and History networks. Author of four illustrated trade books, he has been involved in such NASA robotic exploration missions as the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR), Mars Pathfinder, the Mars rovers Spirit , Opportunity , and Curiosity , and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The main belt asteroid 8146 Jimbell is named in his honor.