 The facility's director is Dr. Phil Christensen; he is the principal investigator of the THEMIS instrument, a co-investigator on the Mars Exploration Rover project, and the principal investigator of the Mini-TES instrument on board the rovers.He was also the principal investigator for Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES).In addition, the facility houses the Mars Education Program, which provides workshops, field trips, and other opportunities for teachers and students to join with scientists in Mars exploration.