2011 Fall Faculty News

Alfred McEwen, professor of planetary science at the UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and principal investigator of the largest imaging campaign ever launched to another planet, has been awarded NASA's Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest NASA honor given to a non-government employee.

McEwen accepted the award on June 30

Tom Zega recently joined LPL/PTYS as an Assistant Professor. Prior to arriving at LPL, Tom spent seven years in the Materials Science Division at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington D.C., first as a National Research Council postdoctoral fellow, and then as staff scientist. At NRL, Tom used high-resolution

Kudos to PTYS/LPL adjunct faculty member Steven Kortenkamp, recipient of the 2011 College of Science Innovation in Teaching Award.

Steve regularly teaches one of our Tier II General Education classes---PTYS 206 (Golden Age of Planetary Exploration). His teaching evaluations are consistently excellent and his approach to the course is always

Congratulations to Professor Jon Pelletier (Dept. of Geosciences and PTYS/LPL), who was named a 2012 Galileo Circle Fellow. This is one of the highest honors bestowed upon faculty in the College of Science.

These awards, established through the generosity of Galileo Circle members, recognize outstanding accomplishments in academic scholarship. Each

Michael J. Drake was born July 8, 1946 in Bristol, England. He grew up in England and attended college at Victoria University of Manchester where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology with honors in 1967. Mike earned his Ph.D. in Geology working with Dan Weill at the

In May of this year, Joe Giacalone was promoted to Professor (from Associate Professor with tenure). Congratulations, Joe!

Professor Richard "Koz" Kozlowski died on July 12, 2011. Koz was a long-time visiting professor at LPL and worked extensively on spectroscopic studies of Mercury, the Moon, and Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Ann Sprague and Don Hunten.

Professor Kozlowski's home institution, Susquehanna University, issued a memorial notice.