Clive R. Neal, a United States citizen since 2013, earned his PhD in geochemistry and petrology in 1986. He then moved to the United States, spending four years as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Tennessee – Knoxville. During this time, he studied mantle petrology and began his involvement with Apollo lunar samples, a focus that continues today through the study of samples and remotely sensed data from missions.