Mt. Holyoke College Associate Professor of Astronomy and Geology Darby Dyar and University of Massachusets at Amherst Professor Emeritus of Geosciences George McGill are helping NASA with its mission to Mars, according to The Daily Hampshire Gazette. Dyar and McGill will help NASA determine if there is water on the red planet.

Dyar and her students have conducted research on 40 minerals that they expect will be found on Mars, according to The Gazette. McGill was involved in selecting the landing sites for the unmanned rover Spirit.

Dyar and McGill will be working with data collected from two locations on Mars, Gusev Crater and Meridiana Planum. "As far as I know I am the only lab in the country with the right data to interpret the new information from the rover," Dyer told the The Gazette. With that data, the two scientists will be trying to establish if there is water present on Mars which would suggest that life forms would be able to survive on Mars.

"As a woman scientist at a women's college, Dyer said she hopes her involvement will inspire her students to explore careers in science," reported The Gazette.