Dale Cruikshank is a planetary scientist at NASA Ames Research Center, where he specializes in determining the compositions and physical properties of small bodies in the outer Solar System. In this work he uses telescopes on Earth and in space. Cruikshank is especially interested in the ices and complex organic materials on the satellites of the giant planets, and icy bodies that lie beyond the orbit of Neptune. He got his Ph.D. at the University of Arizona in 1968, and has been with NASA for about 23 years. He is currently working on the Cassini mission at Saturn and the New Horizons mission that will fly by Pluto in July, 2015.