Cynthia is a scientist at the SETI Institute. She and her partner Shana have 4 kids and live in the San Francisco Bay Area. They are joint authors of 15 books---the most recent, “Space Exploration for Dummies,” came out in June 2009.
Alumni News
"I have participated and precipitated a number of adventures. Briefly, I've wandered a bit away from traditional 'planetary science,' taking an entrepreneurial bent for the last 20 years by founding, growing, and selling small technology companies."
Most recently, Jonathan is guiding the application of those remote sensing technologies and lessons learned to the life sciences. "Our newest product, the UltraSightHD(TM), represents a significant advance in women's health and cancer detection. It is the culmination of many years of NASA/NSF/DoD-derived hyperspectral imaging technology, imaging processing, remote sensing and mapping, remote operation aka telemedicine servicing underserved areas (e.g., Indian Health Service), as well as intelligent image/data analysis assisting the physician with diagnoses."
Jonathan continues, "When described like that, the mission of the USHD is quite analogous to that of Cassini, MERs and LRO except that working distances are measured in centimeters rather than A.U., resolutions measured in microns rather than meters and costs in units of thousands of dollars rather than millions. Yet, the physician (or patient) could be on Mars for that matter! It is fun and exciting to bring health care into the 21st century."
Melinda and Alex are Research Assistant Professors in the Geology Department at Portland State University, where they established the Cascadia Meteorite Laboratory. Melinda and Alex are also the proud parents of twin toddlers.
Brian Jackson is currently a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow in the Planetary Systems Laboratory at Goddard Space Flight Center.
As of June 2009, Curtis Cooper is a Software Engineer at Medical Simulation in Denver, CO.
Maki Hattori (2008) and Brian Jackson (2009) were married on April 18, 2010. Congratulations and best wishes from everyone at LPL!
Please join us in congratulating Jonathan Fortney (2004), the 2010 recipient of the Urey Prize in Planetary Science awarded by The Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society. The Urey Prize recognizes and encourages outstanding achievements in planetary sciences by a young scientist.
Jonathan is Assistant Professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz. In February of 2010, he was awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship. Congratulations, Jonathan!
Congratulations to Fred Ciesla (2003), the 2011 recipient of the Alfred O. Nier Prize. The Meteoritical Society presents this award annually to the outstanding young scientist working on meteorites, impact craters, asteroids, and related fields. Fred is currently Assistant Professor, Department of Geophysical Sciences, at The University of Chicago.
Eugene Levy was a faculty member in LPL beginning in 1975, and was department head and LPL director from 1983 until 1994. While at LPL, he was instrumental in developing the course "Humanity and the Universe: Origin and Destiny," which has been taught under various course numbers (PTYS 105, NATS 102, and, currently, PTYS 170B1) for a quarter century. After serving as Dean of Science at UA, Gene moved on to become Provost at Rice University, along with longtime LPL scientist Erzébet Merényi. He writes from Houston:
"Last summer (2010), I stepped out of the Rice provost position---after having been in the job 10 years. I finished a sabbatical and joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy here as a faculty member (a position I have held formally since my arrival, but have not really gotten active in until now). For the present I am focusing on writing a book (a textbook for general education science), something I have wanted to do for quite a long time, and which I hope will offer an attractive alternative to existing books. I developed a large part of my approach to the material---which I think is in some ways unique---teaching at the UA. I am also working on developing a new physics course, somewhat innovative and experimental, but I have recently found that a similar course has been given in a small handful of universities over the past decade or two. Beyond that, I am developing my footing as a faculty member unencumbered by the leadership and administrative roles I played for the previous 27 years. I'm looking ahead, to some combination of teaching, science and policy (through the Rice Baker Institute for Public Policy) activities, with the balance yet to be determined. On related fronts, I have remained engaged in various Washington activities. I am a member of the NASA Advisory Council Science Committee and chair of its Planetary Protection Subcommittee. (You may be aware that five or six years ago, I was "fired" from the NASA Advisory Council by then NASA Administrator Mike Griffin; my transgression was too insistently advocating for science over human flight to deep space.) I am also a member (and, until recently, chair) of the Associated Universities, Inc. Board of Trustees, the NGO that is responsible for operating most of the U.S. public radio astronomy observatories.
"Erzsébet Merényi continues as a faculty member in the School of Engineering here, working successfully and prominently on developing machine intelligence mainly for application to analysis of large hyper-dimensional data sets, focused on a variety of potential applications, including analysis of remote sensing data for planetary and earth science, which has been her longest standing interest."
LPL mourned the loss this year of dear friend, colleague, and alumna (1997) Elisabetta "Betty" Pierazzo. Betty was a Research Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute. She was also adjunct faculty at LPL, teaching PTYS 214, Astrobiology, on a regular basis. Betty was loved by all who knew her. We feel her loss each day, but remember her friendship, her warm heart, and her vibrant smile.
More information about Betty is available online from PSI and the PSI memorial page, the Arizona Daily Star and a Facebook Memorial Page.