Steve Fossett

Imagine taking that ability and applying it to teaching and research in the study of earth and planetary sciences. Ray Arvidson, Ph.D., James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor and chair of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences (E&PS) in Arts & Sciences, together with WUSTL alumnus and extraordinary explorer Steve Fossett, did just that, with the result being the development of the Fossett Laboratory for Virtual Planetary Exploration.

Fossett and Arvidson have enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship since Fossett's first "Solo Spirit" balloon mission operation in 1997, with E&PS faculty and students developing scientific experiments as well as communications and data systems. Grateful for the help provided and impressed by the undergraduate student performances, Fossett began funding a fellowship program four years ago that attracts top-notch students. In fact, two former WUSTL Rhodes Scholars have been Fossett Fellows.

Now, Fossett is again providing major support for the department, this time with a physical space that will enable E&PS faculty and students to experience 3-D scenes that will "place" them into the scenes and illuminate the smallest details of a map of Earth, Mars or the moon.

"Steve Fossett has been extremely generous to Washington University, and now we have another great reason to thank him," said Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. "The Fossett Laboratory for Virtual Planetary Exploration will be a tremendous resource for our students and faculty in Earth and Planetary Sciences, allowing them to enhance the superior research and teaching already taking place. We are pleased to have the name of one of our most outstanding and accomplished alumni associated with this space."

Fossett's support takes many forms. He is now in his third term as a member of the Board of Trustees. In addition to the fellowships, he has provided the Olin School of Business, from which he earned a master's degree in business administration in 1968, with a distinguished professorship in marketing.

He and his wife, the former Peggy Viehland, share careers made in the financial industry. His success in business began with Lakota Trading Inc., a major stock options market-making firm; he was a member of the New York Stock Exchange for 26 years.

St. Louis native Peggy Fossett is a retired senior portfolio manager for the First National Bank of Chicago. She is an alumna of Webster University, from which she graduated with a bachelor's degree in music education in 1966, and serves as a trustee.

As one of today's most accomplished and well-known adventurers, Fossett holds an amazing 117 official world records spanning five sports. One is for being the first to fly solo around the world, nonstop, in his balloon. That mission in 2002, plus others prior to this successful balloon landing, was linked with WUSTL, which served as mission control headquarters.

That passion for pushing the edges of frontiers creates a natural bond to the work being done in E&PS.

"Exciting advancements are on the horizon for Earth and Planetary Sciences' students and scholars," Arvidson said. "Steve's recent gift provides the department with the resources needed to build an extraordinary capability that will significantly enhance both teaching and research by allowing us to visualize our complex data sets and place ourselves virtually onto other worlds."

Arvidson said he is excited about the prospects: "The lab will use a CAVE technology system whereby four inner walls are built into a room and projectors set up on the perimeters to show stereo scenes on the walls. An individual will be able to walk into the inner room with stereo goggles and become virtually immersed in the 3-D landscape," he noted.

The implications, Arvidson said, are revolutionary.

"This lab will give us a range of applications heretofore only imagined for the broad range of teaching and research under way in our department." He said this will be one of the first-known applications of CAVE technology completely contained within an earth and planetary sciences department.

From a research perspective, the lab will be used to help select landing sites for future Mars missions, such as the 2007 Phoenix Lander and the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory, and aid in initial studies to determine moon landings planned over the next two decades.

Closer to earth, teaching applications will cover beginning to advanced courses. Students will acquire their own 360-degree panoramas of natural scenes and revisit the sites virtually, using the CAVE system.

The baseline system of the Fossett Laboratory for Virtual Planetary Exploration is expected to be operational next summer.

And with it, E&PS is getting ready for a new era in exploration.