Current Grants

• Circumstellar Organics Trapped Inside Presolar Graphite Grains. NASA Solar System Science. CY26-28. Principal Investigator.
• The Astromaterials Data System: Enabling FAIR Astromaterials Samples Data through Trusted Archiving Services and Broad Community Engagement. NASA SMDSS23: Science Mission Directorate Single-Source - by invitation only. CY23-28. Co-Investigator.
• Kuiper Materials Imaging and Characterization Facility at the University of Arizona. NASA Planetary Science Enabling Facilities. CY22-26. Co-Investigator.
• Nanoscale Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer for the Analysis of Planetary Materials. Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. CY20-25. Co-Investigator.
• Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) Asteroid Sample Return Mission. NASA New Frontiers Program. CY11-25. Co-Investigator.
• Expanding NASA's Community for Planetary Sample Science (ENComPSS). NASA’s Support for Planetary Sample Science (SPSS) Cooperative Agreement Notice. CY23-28 Co-Investigator.
• Alien Earths: Which Nearby Planetary Systems Are Likely to Host Habitable Planets and Life? - NASA Astrobiology Institute ICAR - CY20-25 Co-Investigator. 

Current Spacecraft Involvement

• Sample Science Co-Investigator on NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission. Lead Scientist for the Sample Analysis Data Archiving Working Group and member of the Sample Elements and Isotopes Analysis, the Sample Organics Analysis, the Mineralogy and Petrography Working Groups, the Quicklook team, and the Mission Sample Scientist Risk Board.

Student Collaborations/Advising

Former Graduate Students

• Lucas Smith (Ph.D., Planetary Sciences) - 2026

Research Advisor to Undergraduate Students:

• Research advisor to Samantha Weidman (Biological Chemistry Major) - 2021 to 2022
• Research advisor to •    Nicole Benito (undergraduate student at Fordham University) - Summer 2021
• Research advisor to Beth Brooks (Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Major in the W.A Franke Honors College) - 2021 to 2022
• Research advisor to Julie Arjon (Astronomy Major and Astrobiology Minor) - 2022
• Research advisor to André Chavez (Biology Major in the W.A Franke Honors College) - 2025
• Research advisor to Ronica Sims (Physics Major) - 2023
• Research advisor to Cade Smith (Computer Science major) - 2023 to 2025
• Research advisor to Carter Hollings (Biochemistry/Molecular & Cellular Biology Major) - 2024 to 2025
• Research advisor to John Palmer (Astronomy major) - 2024
• Research advisor to Karla Paredes Aguilar (post-baccalaureate researcher) - 2025 to 2026
• Research advisor to Ava Lofty (Planetary Geoscience major) - 2025 to Present

Former Postdocs

• Laura Chaves (now a Lecturer at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric & Earth Science at the University of Miami)

Complete publications list available from: NASA ADS Author search: P. Haenecour

Recent refereed publications (NASA ADS): Years 2019 through June 2026

Barnes, J. J., Nguyen, A. N., Abernethy, F. A. J., Bajo, K., Bekaert, D. V., Bloch, E., Brennecka, G. A., Busemann, H., Cowpe, J. S., Crowther, S. A., Ek, M., Fawcett, L. J., Fehr, M. A., Franchi, I. A., Füri, E., Gilmour, J. D., Grady, M. M., Greenwood, R. C., Haenecour, P., Kawasaki, N., Koefoed, P., Krietsch, D., Le, L., Liszewska, K. M., Maden, C., Malley, J., Marrocchi, Y., Marty, B., Meyer, L. A. E., Peretyazhko, T. S., Piani, L., Render, J., Russell, S. S., Rüfenacht, M., Sakamoto, N., Schönbächler, M., Shollenberger, Q. R., Smith, L., Thomas-Keprta, K., Verchovsky, A. B., Villeneuve, J., Wang, K., Welten, K. C., Wimpenny, J., Worsham, E. A., Yurimoto, H., Zimmermann, L., Zhao, X., Alexander, C. M. O'D., Amini, M., Baczynski, A., Bland, P., Borg, L. E., Burgess, R., Caffee, M. W., Chaves, L. C., Clay, P. L., Dworkin, J. P., Foustoukos, D. I., Glavin, D. P., Hamilton, V. E., Hill, D., House, C. H., Huss, G. R., Ireland, T., Jilly, C. E., Jourdan, F., Keller, L. P., Kruijer, T. S., Lai, V., McCoy, T. J., Nagashima, K., Nishiizumi, K., Ogliore, R., Ong, I. J., Reddy, S. M., Rickard, W. D. A., Sandford, S., Saxey, D. W., Timms, N., Weis, D., Wilbur, Z. E., Zega, T. J., DellaGiustina, D. N., Wolner, C. W. V., Connolly, H. C., & Lauretta, D. S. 2025, Nature Astronomy. The variety and origin of materials accreted by Bennu's parent asteroid

Zega, T. J., McCoy, T. J., Russell, S. S., Keller, L. P., Gainsforth, Z., Singerling, S. A., Manga, V. R., Harrison, C., Libourel, G., Prince, B. S., Thomas-Keprta, K., King, A., Portail, M., Guigoz, V., Tu, V., Le, L., Thompson, M., Benner, M. C., Kerrison, N. A., Barnes, J. J., Ong, I., Haenecour, P., Chaves, L., Smith, L., Kontogiannis, M., Vega Santiago, N., Hill, D., Zeszut, Z., Domanik, K., Chang, Y. -J., Corrigan, C. M., Ray, S., Wardell, L. R., Gooding, T., Rose, T. R., Bates, H. C., Schofield, P. F., Almeida, N. V., Salge, T., Najorka, J., Seifert, L. B., Lunning, N., Righter, K., Nguyen, A. N., Brenker, F. E., Eckley, S. A., Dworkin, J. P., Jones, R. H., Sandford, S. A., Marcus, M. A., Bechtel, H. A., Dominguez, G., Yurimoto, H., Kawasaki, N., Bajo, K., Sakamoto, N., Zanetta, P. -M., Tachibana, S., Busemann, H., Hamilton, V. E., Franchi, I. A., Grady, M., Greenwood, R. C., Tait, K., Timms, N., Bland, P., Jourdan, F., Reddy, S. M., Rickard, W., Saxey, D., Vincze, L., Connolly, H. C., & Lauretta, D. S. 2025, Nature Geoscience. Mineralogical evidence for hydrothermal alteration of Bennu samples

Huseby, Lori, Moran, Sarah E., Pearson, Neil, Kataria, Tiffany, He, Chao, Pesciotta, Cara, Hörst, Sarah M., Haenecour, Pierre, Barman, Travis, Reddy, Vishnu, Lewis, Nikole K., & Vuitton, Véronique 2025, The Planetary Science Journal. Effects of Ultraviolet Radiation on Sub-Neptune Exoplanet Hazes through Laboratory Experiments

Smith, Lucas. R., Haenecour, Pierre, Barnes, Jessica J., Domanik, Kenneth, Chang, Yao-Jen, & Hill, Dolores 2025, The Planetary Science Journal. Rare Phosphides and Nitrides in Igneous Clasts within Aqueously Altered Chondrites

Glavin, Daniel P., Dworkin, Jason P., Alexander, Conel M. O'D., Aponte, José C., Baczynski, Allison A., Barnes, Jessica J., Bechtel, Hans A., Berger, Eve L., Burton, Aaron S., Caselli, Paola, Chung, Angela H., Clemett, Simon J., Cody, George D., Dominguez, Gerardo, Elsila, Jamie E., Farnsworth, Kendra K., Foustoukos, Dionysis I., Freeman, Katherine H., Furukawa, Yoshihiro, Gainsforth, Zack, Graham, Heather V., Grassi, Tommaso, Giuliano, Barbara Michela, Hamilton, Victoria E., Haenecour, Pierre, Heck, Philipp R., Hofmann, Amy E., House, Christopher H., Huang, Yongsong, Kaplan, Hannah H., Keller, Lindsay P., Kim, Bumsoo, Koga, Toshiki, Liss, Michael, McLain, Hannah L., Marcus, Matthew A., Matney, Mila, McCoy, Timothy J., McIntosh, Ophélie M., Mojarro, Angel, Naraoka, Hiroshi, Nguyen, Ann N., Nuevo, Michel, Nuth, Joseph A., Oba, Yasuhiro, Parker, Eric T., Peretyazhko, Tanya S., Sandford, Scott A., Santos, Ewerton, Schmitt-Kopplin, Philippe, Seguin, Frederic, Simkus, Danielle N., Shahid, Anique, Takano, Yoshinori, Thomas-Keprta, Kathie L., Tripathi, Havishk, Weiss, Gabriella, Zheng, Yuke, Lunning, Nicole G., Righter, Kevin, Connolly, Harold C., & Lauretta, Dante S. 2025, Nature Astronomy. Abundant ammonia and nitrogen-rich soluble organic matter in samples from asteroid (101955) Bennu

McCoy, T. J., S. S. Russell, T. J. Zega, K. L. Thomas-Keprta, S. A. Singerling, F. E. Brenker, N. E. Timms, W. D. A. Rickard, J. J. Barnes, G. Libourel, S. Ray, C. M. Corrigan, P. Haenecour, Z. Gainsforth, G. Dominguez, A. J. King, L. P. Keller, M. S. Thompson, S. A. Sandford, R. H. Jones, H. Yurimoto, K. Righter, S. A. Eckley, P. A. Bland, M. A. Marcus, D. N. DellaGiustina, T. R. Ireland, N. V. Almeida, C. S. Harrison, H. C. Bates, P. F. Schofield, L. B. Seifert, N. Sakamoto, N. Kawasaki, F. Jourdan, S. M. Reddy, D. W. Saxey, I. J. Ong, B. S. Prince, K. Ishimaru, L. R. Smith, M. C. Benner, N. A. Kerrison, M. Portail, V. Guigoz, P.-M. Zanetta, L. R. Wardell, T. Gooding, T. R. Rose, T. Salge, L. Le, V. M. Tu, Z. Zeszut, C. Mayers, X. Sun, D. H. Hill, N. G. Lunning, V. E. Hamilton, D. P. Glavin, J. P. Dworkin, H. H. Kaplan, I. A. Franchi, K. T. Tait, S. Tachibana, H. C. Connolly Jr. & D. S. Lauretta 2025, Nature. An evaporite sequence from ancient brine recorded in Bennu samples

Seifert, L.B., Haenecour, P., Ramprasad, T. and Zega, T.J. 2023, Meteorit Planet Sci. An in situ study of presolar grains and the fine-grained matrices of the Meteorite Hills 00526 and Queen Alexandra Range 97008 unequilibrated ordinary chondrites

Seifert, Laura B., Haenecour, Pierre, Ramprasad, Tarunika, Brearley, Adrian J., & Zega, Thomas J. 2023, Meteoritics and Planetary Science. An in situ investigation of the preservation and alteration of presolar silicates in the Miller Range 07687 chondrite

Ramprasad, Tarunika, Haenecour, Pierre, Domanik, Kenneth, & Zega, Thomas J. 2022, Meteoritics and Planetary Science. A petrologic and microstructural study of a compact type A calcium-aluminum-rich inclusion from the Northwest Africa 5028 CR2 chondrite: Implications for nebular and parent-body processes

Seifert, Laura B., Haenecour, Pierre, & Zega, Thomas J. 2022, Meteoritics and Planetary Science. Coordinated chemical and microstructural analyses of presolar silicate grains from AGB/RGB stars and supernovae in the CO3.0 chondrite Dominion Range 08006

Seifert, Laura, Haenecour, Pierre, Ramprasad, Tarunika, & Zega, Thomas 2021, Microscopy and Microanalysis. Coordinated Analyses of a Supernova Silicate Grain in the CO3.0 Chondrite Miller Range 07687

Ogliore, Ryan, Nagashima, Kazuhide, Huss, Gary, and Haenecour, Pierre (2021), Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms. A reassessment of the quasi-simultaneous arrival effect in secondary ion mass spectrometry 

Haenecour, Pierre, Floss, Christine, Brearley, Adrian J., & Zega, Thomas J. 2020, Meteoritics and Planetary Science. The effects of secondary processing in the unique carbonaceous chondrite Miller Range 07687

Zega, Thomas J., Haenecour, Pierre, & Floss, Christine 2020, Meteoritics and Planetary Science. An in situ investigation on the origins and processing of circumstellar oxide and silicate grains in carbonaceous chondrites

Leitner, Jan, Metzler, Knut, Vollmer, Christian, Floss, Christine, Haenecour, Pierre, Kodolányi, János, Harries, Dennis, & Hoppe, Peter 2020, Meteoritics and Planetary Science. The presolar grain inventory of fine-grained chondrule rims in the Mighei-type (CM) chondrites

Haenecour, Pierre & Bose, Maitrayee 2020, Meteoritics and Planetary Science. Understanding our solar system history through in situ nanoscale analysis of extraterrestrial materials: A special issue for Dr. Christine Floss

Bernal, J. J., Haenecour, P., Howe, J., Zega, T. J., Amari, S., & Ziurys, L. M. 2019, The Astrophysical Journal. Formation of Interstellar C<SUB>60</SUB> from Silicon Carbide Circumstellar Grains

Seifert, Laura, Haenecour, Pierre, Zega, Thomas, & Ramprasad, Tarunika 2019, Microscopy and Microanalysis. Coordinated Analyses of a Supernova Polycrystalline Olivine Aggregate in the CO Chondrite Dominion Range 08006

Zega, TJ, Bernal, J., Howe, JY, Haenecour, P., Amari, S., & Ziurys, LM 2019, Microscopy and Microanalysis. Putting Stars in the Gap: in situ Irradiation and Heating of Synthetic SiC and Implications for the Origins of C-rich Circumstellar Materials

Ramprasad, Tarunika, Haenecour, Pierre, Seifert, Laura, & Zega, Thomas J. 2019, Microscopy and Microanalysis. Understanding the Origin and Evolution of Meteoritic Refractory Minerals Through Transmission Electron Microscopy

Haenecour, Pierre, Thompson, Michelle S., Zega, Thomas J., Howe, Jane Y., & Chen, Wei-Ying 2019, Microscopy and Microanalysis. In situ Ion Irradiation and Heating Experiments in the Transmission Electron Microscope: Simulations of Dust Processing in Circumstellar Environments

Haenecour, Pierre, Howe, Jane Y., Zega, Thomas J., Amari, Sachiko, Lodders, Katharina, José, Jordi, Kaji, Kazutoshi, Sunaoshi, Takeshi, & Muto, Atsushi 2019, Nature Astronomy. Laboratory evidence for co-condensed oxygen- and carbon-rich meteoritic stardust from nova outbursts

• Spacefest 2025 (Keynote)  – A Message from Our Origins: What the OSIRIS-REx Samples Reveal – July 2026
• Desert Museum Rocks and Stars Night (Tucson, AZ) – "From the Dawn of the Solar System to the Origins of Life: A Journey to Asteroid Bennu" – July 2025
• Spacefest 2025 (Keynote) – July 2025
• UA-MIT KSJ Astrobiology Workshop – Panel Discussion for journalists on the NASA OSIRIS-REx Mission  –  April 2025
• Arizona Astrobiology Symposium - "From Ancient Earth to Stardust: My Journey into Planetary Science and Astrobiology" – March 2025
• International Meteorite Collectors Association (IMCA) Annual Dinner (Tucson, AZ) – “First Look at Bennu Samples Returned by the OSIRIS-REx Mission” – Feb 2024
• Astronomy Days at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences – “NASA OSIRIS-Rx Missions: First Results from the Analysis of Bennu Samples” – Jan 2024
• Mansfeld Middle Magnet School (Tucson, AZ) – “OSIRIS-REX QuickLook: First Look at the samples from asteroid 101955 Bennu” – Jan 2024
• Gregory School (Tucson, AZ) – “NASA OSIRIS-REx Mission: Journey to the Origins of our Solar System” – Oct 2023
• Mansfeld Middle Magnet School (Tucson, AZ) – “The NASA OSIRIS-REx Mission” –  Sept 2023
• Astronomy Days at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences – “Asteroid Forensics: Unravelling the Origins of our Solar System” – Jan 2023
• Huachuca Astronomy Club – “We Are Made of Star Stuff - Stardust in the Laboratory”    – Feb 2022
• Astronomy Days at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences – “We Are Made of Star Stuff - Stardust in the Laboratory”  –  Jan 2022
• Vice Motherboard – "How to Grab an Asteroid | The Space Show" – Sept 2021
• University of Arizona - The 16th Annual College of Science Lecture Series: “Water: Beyond Earth” – April 2021
• Astronomy Days at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences – “NASA OSIRIS-REx Mission: Insight into the Origin of Volatiles Through the Analysis of Samples from Asteroid 101955 Bennu” – Jan 2021
• Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association - "From Stars to the Laboratory: Stardust in the Solar System" – July 2019

• Asteroid Bennu Comes From a Long-lost Salty World With Ingredients for Life - January 29, 2025
• Space.com - Asteroid Bennu contains stardust that's older than the solar system
• Al Jazeera – “The Take: OSIRIS-REx – the space mission to find the origins of life”
• Al Jazeera – “NASA’s OSIRIS-REx has delivered an asteroid sample on Earth. What next?”
• Wired.com – “How NASA Is Protecting Its Precious Asteroid Bennu Sample”
• AZ Daily Star – “Two U of A researchers will get first crack at asteroid samples”

Haenecour et al. (2019). Laboratory evidence for co-condensed oxygen- and carbon-rich meteoritic stardust from nova outbursts. Nature Astronomy 3, pp. 626-630 (04/29/2019)

• UA News - 'Ashes of a Dying Star Hold Clues about Solar System's Birth'
• AZ Daily Star - 'UA scientists: Speck of stardust could hold clues about our solar system'
• Forbes - 'Tiny Speck Of Actual Stardust' Found In Antarctic Meteorite 
• The New York Post - ‘Alien’ grain of dust from ancient star found in Antarctica 
• The Sun - ‘Alien’ grain of dust fired at Earth by ancient exploding star found buried in Antarctica – and could reveal how our Solar System was born 
• LiveScience - 'This Antarctic Meteorite Holds a Tiny Speck of Stardust That's Older Than the Solar System' 
• SciencePost.fr - 'Une poussière venue “d’ailleurs” s’est incrustée dans notre système solaire'

Haenecour et al. (2013). First Laboratory observation of silica grains from core collapse supernovae. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 768: L17 (5pp) (05/01/2013)

• The New Yorker - 'An Exploding Star, a Grain of Sand, and an Origin Story'
• Scientific American - 'A Star's Last Breath' (video from Scientific American Space Lab Countdown)
• The Huffington Post - 'Meteorites, Supernova Linked After Rare Silica Grains Identified In Antarctic Space Rocks' 
• Science (Vol. 340, Issue 6132, pp. 526) - 'Supernova Grains Identified in the Lab'