Welcome to the Spring 2017 newsletter. I was trying to think of what I should say, and concluded that the best summary of what’s been going on is that the more things stay the same, the more they change. LPL remains, at least in my opinion, one of the premier places in the world to work on planetary sciences, filled with faculty and other researchers who define the cutting edge of our field, graduate students who are changing from just-out-of-college neophytes into world experts, and staff who provide the glue that keeps pieces of the organization from flying off.

At first, the impossibly bright glow of the ignited rocket filled our vision, even 4+ miles distant. But then, as the rising craft reached several rocket heights above the surface, the deep, low rumble of the engine sounding across the water grew to a loud roar that penetrated right to our very cores. No clouds interrupted our view of the rising streak, and as the craft rolled over and continued upward, up toward space with its precious cargo, we were all of us breathtaken.

It has been a tumultuous few months since our last newsletter, filled with both success and sadness.

Recent PTYS graduate Michelle Thompson received the Stephen E. Dwornik Planetary Geoscience Student Paper Award at the 47th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (March 2016).

Ewen Whitaker, whose moon maps were instrumental in the success of the Apollo program, died in Tucson on October 11.

Planetary Sciences graduate coordinator Pam Streett passed away suddenly on September 30 after a brief illness.

We gratefully acknowledge gifts to LPL from donors and corporate partners.

For the 2016/2017 academic year, seven students were admitted for graduate studies at LPL.

Congratulations to LPL's most recent graduates!

Ethan Schaefer, sixth-year PTYS graduate student, had the opportunity to conduct field work in Hawaii with generous funding assistance from Mr. Dan Cavanagh. The goal of this research was to answer the question, “If all we can see in coarse, remotely-sensed data is the outline of a lava flow, what can we meaningfully infer, if anything, about that flow?” This question has direct application to bodies such as Io and Venus.