Curriculum Vitae

Patrick M. Shober

ARES Division · NASA Johnson Space Center · Houston, TX · ORCID 0000-0003-4766-2098

↓ Download PDF Publications Funding ADS ORCID Scholar

Planetary scientist specializing in meteorite-fall detection, fireball dynamics, and the orbital link between meteorites and asteroids. 28 refereed publications (14 first-author), h-index 13, and about €285,000 in competitive funding won as PI. Asteroid (33964) Patrickshober named in 2023.

  • 28refereed papers
  • 14first-author
  • 13h-index
  • 8invited talks

Education

2022
Ph.D., Curtin University, Perth, Australia
Thesis: “Meteoroid Orbital Analysis: Connecting Meteorites and Asteroids”
Supervisors: Prof. P. A. Bland, Prof. G. Benedix, Dr. E. K. Sansom
2017
B.S. Geological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
Senior thesis: Characterization of Cohesion/Adhesion in Asteroidal Regolith Simulants
2013
Intensive Russian Program, University of Pittsburgh
Slavic, Eastern European, and Near Eastern Summer Language Institute

Appointments

2024–2026
NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow, NASA Johnson Space Center
Automating Doppler weather-radar reduction to detect meteoritic and satellite debris falls (ARES Division).
2022–2024
Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, Paris Observatory (LTE), France
Orbital and irradiation histories of meteoritic samples.
2021–2022
Astrodynamics Specialist, InTrack Solutions, Adelaide, Australia
Geosynchronous-satellite modeling, maneuver planning, and detection algorithms for space domain awareness.
2017–2022
Doctoral Candidate, Space Science & Technology Centre, Curtin University
Orbital modeling and statistical analysis of Desert Fireball Network data.
2016–2017
NASA Intern, NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH
Adhesion/cohesion measurements of meteoritic materials; SEM, XRD, UV-nIR, IR & Raman characterization.
2015–2016
Laboratory Assistant, Case Western Reserve University
Planetary Interiors Research Group: Fe–Si and Fe–C alloy synthesis and eutectic characterization.

Leadership & projects

2024–2026
Principal Investigator, Next-Generation Meteorite Tracking (NASA NPP)
Machine-learning detection and characterization of meteorite falls in the U.S. NEXRAD network.
2022–present
Core Team Member, FRIPON (Fireball Recovery & InterPlanetary Observation Network)
Advancing data-reduction techniques and pipeline development.
2022–2024
Principal Investigator, MASSED (Marie Skłodowska-Curie / Île-de-France)
Mapping arrival times of extraterrestrial debris via meteorite irradiation ages and N-body models.
2019–present
Team Member, Global Fireball Observatory
Scientific utilization of the orbital dataset; observatory installation and upkeep.

Selected awards & honors

Amounts and details: full funding history.

2024
NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowship (PI)
2023
Asteroid (33964) Patrickshober named by the IAU
Following the 2023 Asteroids, Comets, Meteors conference, for contributions to planetary science.
2022
Paris Région Fellowship — MASSED (PI)
Domaines d'Intérêt Majeur framework, supporting MASSED at LTE.
2017
Curtin International Postgraduate Research Scholarship
2017
Curtin Research Stipend Scholarship
2017
Charles S. Bacon Award, Case Western Reserve University
2013
Case Western Reserve University Academic Scholarship

Selected invited talks

2025
EPSC–DPS Joint Meeting, Helsinki, Finland
2025
Invited Plenary, Meteoroids Conference, Perth, Australia
2025
87th Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, Perth, Australia
2025
Brown University, Providence, USA
2024–2025
Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania
2019
Western University Meteor Physics Group, London, Canada

Service

Reviewer
Peer reviewer
MNRAS · Astrophysics & Space Science · Planetary & Space Science · Meteoritics & Planetary Science · Astronomy & Astrophysics · The Astronomical Journal · Icarus · NASA ROSES (YORPD, FINESST).
Member
Professional memberships
American Astronomical Society, Division for Planetary Sciences; European Geosciences Union.

Outreach & media

Writing
Popular-science features
Authored for American Scientist (“Unrepresentative Meteorites”) and The Conversation; republished by Phys.org, Space.com, EarthSky and others.
Radio
The Academic Minute, “The Case of the Missing Meteorites” (2025)
Press
Research covered by The New York Times, New Scientist, USA Today, Popular Mechanics and BBC Science Focus.

Skills

Code
Programming
Python · MATLAB · Java · Bash · R · C++ · LaTeX; with NumPy/SciPy/Astropy, scikit-learn, multiprocessing, Docker, supercomputing and GUI development.
Domains
Methods
Orbital N-body modeling · orbit determination · Bayesian statistics · unsupervised machine learning · impact-fragmentation modeling · data visualization.
Languages
Languages
English (native) · French (professional) · Russian & Spanish (beginner).

Selected publications

Five representative papers — the complete record (28 refereed publications) lives on the publications page.

Shober PM, Devillepoix HAR, Vaubaillon J, et al. (2025) Perihelion history and atmospheric survival as primary drivers of the Earth's meteorite record Nature Astronomy, 9, 799–812 DOIarXiv

Shober PM, Vaubaillon J, Anghel S, et al. (2026) Comparing the data-reduction pipelines of FRIPON, DFN, WMPL, and AMOS: a case study of the Geminids Astronomy & Astrophysics, 705, A65 DOI

Shober PM, Devillepoix HAR, Vaubaillon J, et al. (2025) What falls versus what we recover: quantifying search and recovery bias for orbital meteorites Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 60(10), 2488–2503 DOI

Shober PM (2026) Asteroidal activity among meteor datasets: confirmed new “rock-comet” stream and search for a tidal-disruption signature The Astrophysical Journal, 1000(2), 254 DOI

Shober PM, Jansen-Sturgeon T, Sansom EK, et al. (2019) Identification of a Minimoon Fireball The Astronomical Journal, 158(5), 183 DOIarXiv

My asteroid