Congratulations to LPL's 2023 Galileo Circle Scholarship recipients: Galen Bergsten, Xiaohang Chen, Nathan Hadland, Mackenzie Mills, Lucas Smith, Jada Walters, and Zoë Wilbur.
Galileo Circle Scholarships are awarded to the University of Arizona's finest science students and represent the tremendous breadth of research interests in the University of Arizona College of Science. The scholarships are supported through the generous donations of Galileo Circle members. Galileo Circle Scholars receive $1,000 and the opportunity to introduce themselves and their research to the Galileo Circle patrons.
View all PTYS Galileo Circle Scholarship Recipients
Galen Bergsten
Advisor: Ilaria Pascucci
Uses large-scale survey data to study populations of extrasolar planets, including those analogous to Earth, to learn how planets form and evolve throughout the Galaxy.
Xiaohang Chen
Advisor: Joe Giacalone
Seeks to understand the acceleration and transport of solar energetic particles (SEP) associated with fast and wide coronal mass ejections to better predict dangerous SEPs.
Nathan Hadland
Advisors: Solange Duhamel & Christopher Hamilton
Studies planetary analogs in Iceland and elsewhere to evaluate the nature of life and their resulting biosignatures in extreme environments that have similar characteristics as Mars.
Mackenzie Mills
Advisor: Alfred McEwen
Using spacecraft data to derive scientific conclusions from planetary surfaces, characterizing Martian geomorphology and working for an understanding of influence of Martian subsurface features on spatial distributions of surface features.
Lucas Smith
Advisor: Pierre Haenecour
Identifying and investigating presolar stardust grains within meteorites that have experienced aqueous processing, which informs our understanding of conditions that existed during Solar System formation.
Jada Walters
Advisor: Kris Klein
Investigating and identifying instabilities in solar wind plasma, modeling plasma instabilities in one and two dimensions to more accurately model the solar wind in three dimensions in advance of upcoming mission to explore near-Earth plasmas.
Zoë Wilbur
Advisor: Jessica Barnes
Investigating the volcanic and magmatic histories of Apollo 15 and 17 basalts using sample analysis, with a focus on a previously unopened Apollo 17 basalt sample. Measurements will help to answer key questions about how volcanism works on the Moon and potentially on other airless Solar System bodies. The sample analysis is particularly timely as the future NASA Artemis missions will include sample returns