Dr. Brownlee is Professor of Astronomy at the University of Washington, from which he received his doctorate in Astronomy. Dr. Brownlee's research interests include investigations, conducted at the University of Washington, the Lunar Science Institute, and the California Institute of Technology, of interplanetary dust, comets, meteorites, and the origin of the solar system. He also conducted research as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago. Asteroid 3259 Brownlee was named for him in 1991. Dr. Brownlee has received numerous awards and honors, including the J. Lawrence Smith medal from the National Academy of Sciences, the Leonard medal from the Meteoritical Society, and the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement. Dr. Brownlee was elected a Fellow of both the Meteoritical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the Associate Editor of Meteoritics and is on the Editorial Advisory Board of Microbeam Analysis Journal. Dr. Brownlee is currently a principal investigator for the STARDUST Discovery mission, that that will collect comet samples and return them to Earth.