Alexandra (Sasha) Blinova holds a B.Sc. Honors in Geology from Carleton University and M. Sc. in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences from University of Alberta. Sasha is currently a Ph.D. student at the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences in University of Alberta where she is conducting research in planetary geology. Her main research interests lie in meteoritics, early solar system chronology and cosmochemitry.
Sasha is the recipient of several scholarships and awards, among them NSERC undergraduate and graduate (CGSD3) scholarships (2004-present), Alberta Ingenuity Masters and Ph.D. scholarships (2006-present), and the Graduate Student Scholarship from the Alberta Advanced Education program (2008). In 2007 Sasha received the grant from the Canadian Foundation for International Space University (CFISU) to attend Space Summer Program (SSP) at the International Space University (ISU) in Beijing, China.
At the present Sasha is conducting a research project on the Tagish Lake meteorite that fell in British Columbia in 2000. This meteorite is quite possibly the most significant meteorite fall in Canadian history. Primitive organic molecules have been found in the Tagish Lake meteorite, identifiable in part because it has not been contaminated by handling. In addition, it has been preserved frozen so that this is the only meteorite that has not been contaminated by the terrestrial weathering and handling.
In addition to carrying out the research, Sasha is on the Council for the EAS Graduate Student Society, ATLAS. In her spare time, Sasha enjoys swimming, skiing, tennis, plays piano, paints and an active member of the Edmonton Dragon Boat Racing Club (EDBRC).