Doug Cobos earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Duke University, a master’s degree in soil science from Texas A&M University and a doctoral degree in soil science with an emphasis in climatology from University of Minnesota. After earning his doctorate, Doug began working as a research scientist and engineer at Decagon. One of his first projects was to make the KD2 Pro Mars-worthy. The instrument he developed with the Decagon team (the TECP—Thermal and Electrical Conductivity Probe) went to Mars aboard the 2007-08 Phoenix Mars Lander.