Scot Rafkin is Director of the Department of Space Studies and a planetary and atmospheric scientist specializing in mesoscale and microscale modeling of planetary atmospheres, particularly those of Earth, Mars, and Titan. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications on planetary atmospheric dynamics and modeling. Rafkin also develops spaceflight instrumentation, with an emphasis on in situ laser spectroscopy. He has been a member of the science teams for Mars Science Laboratory and Mars 2020, and is currently a team member on Dragonfly. He has supported atmospheric characterization for entry, descent, and landing on every Mars mission since the Mars Exploration Rover program and has received multiple NASA Group Achievement Awards for his operational support and scientific contributions. Rafkin earned a B.S. in atmospheric science from University of California, Los Angeles and a Ph.D. in atmospheric science from Colorado State University.