Spring

Elijah Garcia is the recipient of the LPL Staff Excellence Award for 2024 in the category of Science/Engineering Staff.

Eli is Manager of Professor Walt Harris’ Optical and Space Flight Instrumentation Development Laboratory. He began his career at LPL as a student in 2016 and soon transitioned to being an essential member of the staff, maintaining a broad range of facilities including two vacuum test systems, a clean room, a darkroom, a mechanical shop, a compressed gas handling facility, chemical storage, and two electronics fabrication stations. He keeps facilities adequately supplied and maintained ensures that users are properly trained for safe use and have required certifications. Eli also serves as procurement lead for the funded research projects in the lab, including working with vendors to develop quotes for what are often highly customized components that will be incorporated into space flight hardware.

Eli is an active participant in the field component of the user groups’ research, essentially extending his expertise beyond the lab. He handles logistics of remote test and flight operations of experiments developed in the lab and assists investigators with all phases of their effort to obtain a successful test or launch, often requiring him to travel to remote locations for up to weeks at a time, during which he has remotely attended to his regular management duties. 

Eli is adept at handling needs of multiple projects simultaneously, currently managing four projects with four principal investigators, diverse facility requirements, and a constantly changing set of students, postdocs, and engineers that he keeps certified and operating independently of each other. In addition, Eli takes an active role in mentoring undergraduate students in the lab, volunteering to train these students in lab best practices and routinely goes out of his way to research new and cost-effective solutions to problems that keep our project within budgetary and schedule bounds. Under Eli’s leadership, the lab cleanroom was recommissioned to meet specific program requirements — a success that was described as a “heroic effort.” Thanks, Eli, for your outstanding work in support of optical and spaceflight instrumentation development. 

Chad Cantin

Chad is an Aerospace Engineering major with minors in Planetary Sciences and Astrobiology. Chad chose Planetary Sciences as a minor because of his long-abiding and profound interest in space. He credits enrollment in PTYS 206: Exploring our Solar System with sparking an interest in pursuing further study of the field. Chad’s favorite Planetary Sciences class has been PTYS 407: Chemistry of the Solar System taught by Dr. Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for the OSIRIS-REx mission. Chad reports the class was an incredible experience given the opportunity to learn first-hand about the OSIRIS-REx mission and its importance to the study of asteroid composition. 

Chad plans to graduate in Spring 2025 with a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering; he will then pursue a Master's degree in Systems Engineering. His goal is to work as an aerospace/space systems engineer with NASA. Chad is getting a head start on his career goals this summer, when he will be working as an aeromechanics intern at NASA Ames Research Center. 

Chad spent the past academic year as an Arizona/NASA Space Grant working with Professor Shane Byrne to digitize and archive lunar images from the NASA Surveyor Program. Chad also works with Dr. Jekan Thanga (Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering) in SpaceTREx Laboratories’ NASA-funded projects relating to robotic space systems engineering for lunar base applications. More specifically, his work involves designing lunar robots using computer-aided drafting and 3D printing.

When he is not doing homework or working in the lab, Chad enjoys painting and spending time outdoors. He also pursues an interest in astrophotography, using his telescope to capture observable objects in the night sky.

Staff, faculty, and students from LPL are always delighted to share highlights of their research throughout the year with hands-on experiences and exhibits. This spring semester was an active one, with outreach opportunities at large, world-renown events like the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show and the Tucson Festival of Books (TFoB), as well as at smaller, local venues. Below is a sampling of what we were up to for spring 2024.

We start the semester re-cap with the LPL Gem Show booth, another great success this year thanks to the efforts of volunteers like graduate students Nathalia Vega Santiago, Christina Singh, Melissa Kontogiannis, Gabe Gowman, and Orion Hon, as well as undergraduate PTYS minor Reed Spurling, and longtime volunteer Hector Swidzinski. Over four full days, the LPL booth featured two sample glove boxes for guests to try their hand at moving precious particles using real lab tools. And we we had a lot of fun with the ever-popular meteorites-meteorwrongs test tray.

At TFoB, LPL volunteers including Denise Blum, Joe Schools, Ruby Fulford, Orion Hon, Gabe Gowman, and others participated in Science City’s Tent of Tomorrow. In addition to working in the sample glove boxes, visitors attempted to land a 3D printed OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Capsule on a map of the Utah Test and Training Range. And visitors appreciated seeing pictures of the returned Bennu sample.

LPL Assistant Professor Pierre Haenecour had an especially busy season of public talks about OSIRIS-REx and the Bennu sample. He gave a much anticipated and well received presentation about the OSIRIS-REx Bennu sample to the International Meteorite Collectors Association for their annual Gem Show gathering. Pierre also spoke to students at Tucson’s Mansfeld Magnet Middle School, sharing meteorite samples and describing the sample science related to OSIRIS-REx. 

A bit farther afield, Dr. Haenecour gave two special talks about OSIRIS-REx and the Bennu sample for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (Raleigh) Astronomy Days event.

LPL’s active outreach to local schools included visits to classrooms, participation in STEM/STEAM festivals, star parties, and on-site tours for students visiting the Kuiper Space Sciences building. Topics included activities and exhibits about the solar eclipse, comet making, creating clay planets, and building safe egg-landing parachutes. Tours of the Kuiper-Arizona Astromaterials Laboratory for Astromaterials Analysis to learn about advanced materials analysis were popular. 

Spring 2024 semester highlights also include: 

• Operations Specialist Tracie Beuden represented the Catalina Sky Survey at the Paiute Neighborhood Center Sci-Tech Family Festival in Scottsdale. 
• Dolores Hill gave a "meet me under the Moon Tree" talk for the Saddlebrook Hiking Club. 
• Zoë Wilbur and Maizey Benner spoke to community groups about meteorites, always a popular topic, and grad student Sam Myers is looking forward to a summer talk for the Prescott Astronomy Club. 
• Carson Fuls and Dolores Hill gave presentations for the Stars Over Sabino Canyon event hosted by the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter and the U.S. Forest Service. The event was a combination of daytime solar viewing, presentations, and an evening star party. Presentations were well attended despite the rain! 
• In celebration of this year’s solar eclipse, first-year graduate student Nicole Kerrison gave a special presentation about the Sun at Flandrau Science Center. 
• Assistant Professor Jessica Barnes spoke on science careers at the Women in Physics event at Biosphere2.

We look forward to seeing you soon! 

Imani Ralph

Imani is majoring in Biochemistry with minors in Astrobiology and Statistics and Data Science. She discovered the astrobiology option as a first-year student and was immediately eager to explore the opportunities the program offered in support of her research interests in planetary habitability. 

Given Imani’s interests, it’s not surprising that her favorite minor course was MCB 437: Life in Extreme Environments, which was focused on extremophiles and the various conditions they can inhabit. Taught by Dr. Solange Duhamel (MCB), the class provided Imani with the opportunity to complete a project on a polyextremophile known as Deinococcus radiodurans. Known for surviving in multiple extreme environments such as those with intense infrared radiation, the bacterium provides insight into Mars’ ability to sustain life.

Imani plans to attend medical school and pursue a career as a physician in a field related to pediatrics. As part of her pre-med program, she is supplementing her course work with practical experience. Currently, Imani is working in Dr. M. Leandro Heien’s analytical chemistry laboratory to develop chronic electrodes for in vivo dopamine detection in mice under different stimuli. These types of studies can provide insight into certain conditions related to dopamine levels (e.g., Parkinson’s disease). 

When her schedule permits some free time, Imani enjoys spending time catching up with friends and her favorite Netflix programs.

The Astrobiology undergraduate minor program is administered by LPL.

So far for 2024, LPL's Space Imagery Center has conducted three workshops that train planetary scientists in how to create topography from planetary images. Workshop attendees have spanned all career stages from undergraduates to senior scientists. These workshops introduce the fundamental principles of stereophotogrammetry and structure-from-motion techniques. Thanks to investment from the Technology and Research Initiative Fund (TRIF), the Space Imagery Center possesses specialized hardware to see and edit these products in three dimensions. 

These workshops were made possible by funding from NASA’s Topical Workshops, Symposia, and Conferences program. As part of this proposal, organizers collaborate with colleagues at Arizona State University, the U.S. Geological Survey, and Cornell University in offering no-cost training in a wide range of topics related to Planetary Science data. We hope to continue offering these to the community next year – a follow-up proposal is currently under consideration at NASA. 

Professor Shane Byrne is director of the Space Imagery Center and Research Scientist Dr. Michael Phillips is the Center’s manager.

By Jack Holt, PTYS 590 instructor, Spring 2024

In spite of a very windy first day and rain on the second, PTYS 590 had a successful trip to Death Valley and its vicinity. We visited and discussed a multitude of planetary-relevant sites including dunes, playas, alluvial fans, volcanics, a phreatomagmatic crater, paleo-shorelines, ventifacts, Snowball Earth glacial deposits, stromatolites, hot springs, and more. There was still a giant shallow lake at Badwater Basin, which was quite a sight. UArizona Regents Professor Victor Baker provided great insights at many stops and LPL Research Scientist Dr. Joe Schools supported the trip. 

Perhaps the most amazing, unprecedented outcome is that we had zero flat tires on the road to Racetrack Playa! 

Support the LPL Graduate Field Trip by donating to the Wilkening-Sill endowment.  

The Kuiper-Arizona Laboratory for Astromaterials Analysis awards the Hitachi Scholarship in Electron Microscopy annually to two graduate students generating cutting-edge research and publications in the area of electron microscopy. The scholarship was established by Hitachi High-Technologies as part of their partnership with the University of Arizona. 

Maizey Benner

Maizey is a third-year Ph.D. student at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. Her research focuses on unraveling the thermodynamic history of phosphorus- and sulfur-bearing minerals in aqueously altered carbonaceous chondrites using coordinated electron microscopy techniques. Maizey uses the Hitachi HF5000 S/TEM and S-4800 SEM to characterize the structure and chemistry of these materials from the millimeter to atomic scale. About the award, Maizey says, "Receiving the Hitachi Electron Microscopy Scholarship has given me great confidence in my work, and encouragement to pursue further training in electron microscopy. I am honored to receive such an award and look forward to completing my Ph.D. research using the Hitachi microscopes."

Lucas Smith

LPL graduate student Lucas Smith uses the Hitachi instruments in the Kuiper-Arizona Laboratory for Astromaterials Analysis to study presolar stardust grains in aqueously-altered meteorites. In particular, he says, "the Hitachi HF5000 TEM allows me to obtain critical information on the chemical composition, structure, and mineralogy of presolar grains in the context of their host meteorites. This information also allows me to understand the conditions under which the presolar grains formed in their parent star as well as how aqueous processing on asteroids affects presolar phases."

Associate Professor Kristopher Klein was named as the esteemed recipient of the 2024 Karen Harvey Prize. The award is made by the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society and honors the memory of the late Karen Harvey, recognizing significant contributions in solar physics research made by an early career scientist. Dr. Klein was awarded for his outstanding contributions to the understanding of space plasma turbulence. 

Professor Klein’s innovative research includes in situ observations of the solar wind, novel data analysis methods, theoretical frameworks, and simulations. The work has resulted in groundbreaking insights into the kinetics of solar wind evolution and the nature of plasma turbulence dissipation.

The award also recognizes Dr. Klein’s leadership in the scientific community, including as Project Scientist for the Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons instrument on NASA’s Parker Solar Probe. Professor Klein is also Deputy Principal Investigator of the upcoming NASA HelioSwarm mission.