Dr. Crisp became a member of the technical staff at JPL in 1986 as a member of the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field/Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) Science Team. While that instrument was being built, he contributed to the design, development, and testing of its 48 spectral filters and flat-field calibration channel, and developed the software used to estimate its end-to-end radiometric performance. Since the WFPC2 was installed in the HST in December of 1993, correcting the Hubble aberration, Dr. Crisp has led the Science Team's Mars and Neptune observing programs.
Dr. Crisp has also led efforts to design and develop miniaturized meteorological instruments for studies of the atmospheres of the Earth and Mars. He was the Principle Investigator of the JPL DDF and NASA PIDDP efforts that led to the development of the JPL Micro-Hygrometer (U.S. Patent No. 5364185), as well as innovative atmospheric pressure and wind velocity sensors. As a member of the Mars Pathfinder ASI/Met Science Advisory Group, he contributed to the design and testing of the meteorological instruments on the Mars Pathfinder Lander. He is currently responsible for the design and implementation of the meteorological instruments for the Mars Volatile and Climate Surveyor (MVACS) payload for the Mars Surveyor '98 Lander.
Dr. Crisp is a currently a member of the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field/Planetary Camera 2 Science Team, the Mars Pathfinder Atmospheric Structure/Meteorology Science Team, the Mars Volatiles and Climate Surveyor Science Team, and the Mars Surveyor '98 Lander RKA/IKI Lidar Science Team. He served previously on the Soviet/French/U.S. Venus Balloon Science Team, and The Voyager Imaging Team (for the Neptune encounter). At last count, he was the author of over 85 articles in refereed scientific journals, and 7 book chapters.