Mark Clampin graduated from the University of London with a B.S. in physics in 1982 and a PhD in astronomy from the University of Saint Andrews in 1986. From 1992-2003, Dr. Clampin worked at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Baltimore, Maryland, first as a post-doc working on photon-counting detectors and coronagraphs. Later, he spent four years at Johns Hopkins University before returning to the institute to work on several of the Hubble Space Telescope’s instruments and three of its five servicing missions, which extended and enhanced the observatory’s scientific capability. From 2003-2015, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, working on the James Webb Space Telescope Observatory as a Project Scientist; 2015-2016, Director, Astrophysics Science Division; 2016-2018, Deputy Director, Sciences and Exploration Directorate and in 2018, he became the Director, Sciences and Exploration Directorate.

Dr. Clampin's research interests focus on studying the formation and evolution of planetary systems. He was the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) Group Lead at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), where he worked on three Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Servicing Missions. He is a Co-Investigator with the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), and the Advanced camera for Surveys (ACS) science team and served as the Detector Scientist. Dr Clampin has also designed ground-based telescope instruments including adaptive optics systems, coronagraphs and detectors.