Department News

by Adam Battle

The Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Conference (LPLC) marks the start of the academic year for many planetary scientists in the Tucson area. This year, LPLC 2020 prefaced the Fall 2020 semester full of online classes, meetings, and conferences. Whereas LPLC typically involves multiple days of poster presentations and live presentations, this year’s conference was streamlined to just five hours and allowed participants to transition into the strange pace of the academic year. Participants this year recorded short presentations which attendees watched in the week leading up to the conference. On the day of LPLC, each participant had five minutes to answer live questions from the audience. These Q&A slots were grouped by topic into four themed sessions, each of which had one or two invited speakers who gave live presentations to the attendees. Among the invited speakers was Zarah Brown, the winner of the “Best Grad Student Presentation” in 2019; Zarah gave a great talk on Tracing Hydrocarbons in the Upper Atmosphere of Saturn. The winner of this year’s “Best Grad Student Presentation” award is Teddy Kareta who will be invited to give a talk at LPLC in 2021.

Despite the unusual conditions this year, LPLC had the same level of attendance as previous years with over 70 people joining to watch the talks and ask questions to fellow scientists. In addition to the invited speakers, almost 20 people gave presentations about their current or upcoming research. For a conference largely designed to bring the planetary science community together, LPLC met all of its goals despite the difficulties presented in 2020. The conference concluded with a bittersweet keynote from Tim Swindle about his decade of experiences as director of LPL, including all the lessons learned while leading such a unique and wonderful department.

LPL Department Head and Director Tim Swindle gave the keynote talk at LPLC 2020.

Saverio Cambioni, Kyle Pearson, and Jess Vriesema defended dissertations via Zoom.

Saverio defended his dissertation, On the Application of Machine Learning to Planetary Sciences, on September 10. Professor Erik Asphaug served as his advisor. Saverio begins a position as postdoctoral research associate at Caltech in January.

On June 2, Kyle defended The Detection and Characterization of Transiting Exoplanets. His advisor was Professor Caitlin Griffith. Kyle is currently a Data Scientist at JPL.

Jess Vriesema defended on October 12. His dissertation is titled Modelling Electrodynamics in Saturn's Upper Atmosphere. Jess was advised by Professor Roger Yelle.

Dr. Lyle Broadfoot passed away on August 30. Lyle earned a Bachelor of Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada, in 1956, and then spent two years as an engineer with the Defense Research Board in Ottawa. He returned to the University of Saskatchwan to earn an M.S. (1960) and Ph.D. (1963) in physics. Lyle worked for 15 years at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Tucson, Arizona, as a physicist in the space division. In 1979, Dr. Broadfoot became a research scientist and associate physicist at the Space Engineering Research Center at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Lyle joined LPL in 1982 as a Senior Research Scientist; he retired from LPL in 2003.

At LPL, Dr. Broadfoot led the group responsible for building the first Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometers to observe every planet but Earth and Mars. He also discovered the auroras on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, and determined the vertical profiles of atmospheric density and composition for Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Titan and Triton by occultation. Dr. Broadfoot received multiple awards from NASA, including several Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medals and Group Achievement Awards for Voyager science instrument development and for Voyager science investigations. He was also recognized with Group Achievement Awards for the Galileo Gaspra encounter team and the Galileo Ida encounter/Dactyl discovery team.

(Excerpted from Marquis Who's Who, February 22, 2019).

Professor Nadine Barlow died on August 17. Nadine was an alumna of the University of Arizona, where she earned a B.S. in Astronomy (1980) and a Ph.D. in Planetary Sciences from LPL in 1987. Nadine's research interests spanned impact cratering on planets and satellites throughout the solar system, from Mercury to Pluto and her curiosity about cratering processes increased along with the reach of our satellite explorations. Her dissertation (Relative Ages and the Geologic History of Martian Terrain Units) mapped, measured, and classified every crater on the entire planet larger than 8 km (5 miles) in diameter. These data were used to establish the detailed relative chronology of Martian geologic features. Nadine maintained and expanded this database throughout her career as later spacecraft missions returned increasingly detailed images of the planet.

After completing her Ph.D., Nadine held postdoctoral appointments at the Lunar and Planetary Institute and NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. In 1998, she became an Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, where she was recognized with the 2002 University Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award.  Nadine joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Northern Arizona University (NAU) in 2002, becoming Department Chair of Astronomy and Planetary Science in 2010. At NAU, Professor Barlow was the recipient of numerous awards for teaching excellence and was largely responsible for doubling the size of the department and developing its curriculum into that of a doctoral program. Professor Barlow supervised many students over the years, both undergraduate and graduate, and was a popular mentor and friend to those students. A prize for Undergraduate Research Exellence is being established at NAU's Department of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences in her name.

Professor Barlow was active in the science community, serving on boards and committees of many professional societies, organizing meetings and consortia to facilitate scientific discussion and collaboration, and publishing numerous papers in the scientific literature. Academic outreach was a priority; Nadine introduced the Arizona Space Grant Program to NAU, and fostered cooperation between NAU, Lowell Observatory, and the U.S. Geological Survey.  Asteroid 15466 Barlow is named in her honor.

(Excerpted from Arizona Daily Sun, September 1, 2020)

We would like to thank all those who have donated to LPL in 2019 and 2020. Thanks to everyone for supporting research, education, and outreach at LPL.

Professor Jay Melosh joined the LPL faculty in 1982. Before moving to Purdue University in 2009, he served as advisor for twelve LPL Ph.D. students and three M.S. students, and led many memorable LPL field trips. One of the world's foremost experts in impact cratering, Jay was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2003. He was named a University of Arizona Regents' Professor (2001), won the Barringer Medal of the Meteoritical Society (1999), the Gilbert Award of the Geological Society of America (2001), and the Hess Medal of the American Geophysical Union (2008). 

A tribute to Jay Melosh by colleagues Caffee, Swindle, and Turtle is available from The Meteoritical Society (Oct. 27, 2020).

Computing Systems Manager John Pursch retired from LPL on November 30. John was hired as a Principal Support Systems Analyst in 2001, just after moving to Tucson from California, where he had worked as a programmer for various technology startups during the technology boom of the 1980s and 1990s. At LPL, John began supporting infrastructure systems and working his behind the scenes "magic" in supervising daily operations for LPL mail, web, and file servers, backups, and user support. John’s programming skills can be found in scripts in almost every LPL infrastructure system, keeping everything in check and running smoothly.

John holds a degree in mathematics from Caltech. Before moving to Tucson in 2001, he traveled extensively all around the world. One of John's interests and talents is memorization. In 2010, John held the U.S. record for reciting the most digits of pi, with 2104 digits memorized. LPL computing staff came to rely on John's memory for details of LPL system implementations and associated problems (and solutions). John's other interests include the Rubik's Cube (his solution time is nearly less than 20 seconds), poetry (several of his works have been published online), and meditation. 

John's expertise, talent, and dedication over his long career has helped to build a computing infrastructure that will continue to support research and discovery at LPL.

Maria Schuchardt retired from LPL on October 12 after nearly 30 years of service. She began her LPL career in April 1991, primarily as department photographer. In 1998, Maria became the Data Manager for the Space Imagery Center, where she organized tours of the facility, facilitated access to the collection for researchers as well as the public, and provided educational resources and kits to visitors and educators. Maria expanded her role and responsibilities by coordinating outreach activities for the entire department and working with other campus groups to support university projects and better serve local communities. She developed the idea of an annual public science event in the Kuiper building; this “Summer Science Saturday” program was extremely popular in the community, drawing several hundred visitors each year. She devoted many hours to organizing the event, creating the displays, and inviting and communicating with local science groups who looked forward to participating and working with Maria every year. When the Tucson Festival of Books came on the scene, Maria coordinated the “Science City” section. Another programmatic highlight is the very popular LPL Evening Lecture Series; Maria solicited the speakers and advertised the talks to her loyal following of community contacts.

Maria's efforts also supported the work done by other groups at LPL. She coordinated the Kuiper Board's K-12 community outreach in Tucson and served as a point of contact for outreach requests from the community, working to ensure that LPL faculty, staff, and students have the opportunity to share their work with schools and groups around Tucson. In addition, she was actively involved with other department activities and special events such as The Art of Planetary Science. Maria was always there to greet prospective graduate students with a joke as she took their first LPL portrait; her annual grad student group photo was a tradition. Maria's reputation extended well beyond Tucson; for example, each year, Maria hosted a group of Norwegian students on a science tour of the U.S. She was always "in demand" in part because she infused every interaction with joy, positivity, and enthusiasm for communicating science. Maria was named a recipient of a 2020 University Award for Excellence, which recognized her outstanding service to the university community and visitors. 

Maria Schuchardt was named a recipient of a 2020 University Award for Excellence, which recognizes outstanding service to the university community and visitors. Maria has been a Program Coordinator with LPL since 1991. As part of her duties as Data Manager for the Space Imagery Center, Maria offers and organizes tours of the facility, facilitates access to the collection for researchers as well as the public, and provides educational resources and kits to visitors and educators. However, she goes above and beyond these responsibilities by coordinating outreach activities for the entire department and working with other campus groups to support university projects and better serve local communities. She developed the idea of an annual public science event in the Kuiper building; this “Summer Science Saturday” program has become extremely popular in the community and draws several hundred visitors each year on a Saturday in July. She devotes many long hours to organizing the event, creating the displays, and inviting and communicating with local science groups who look forward to participating and working with Maria every year. When the Tucson Festival of Books came on the scene, Maria began coordinating the “Science City” section, in part because she knew the groups that could be counted on to provide activities. Another programmatic highlight is the very popular LPL Evening Lecture Series; Maria solicits the speakers and advertises the talks to the distribution list she maintains, in addition to the community at large.

Maria's efforts also support the work done by other groups at LPL. When the department’s external advisory board decided to try to put together an outreach committee to bring together groups doing K-12 outreach in Tucson, she became the glue that bound them together, supporting their (evening) meetings, and participating in many events that they organized around town. Maria serves as a point of contact for outreach requests from the community, working to ensure that LPL faculty, staff, and students have the opportunity to share their work with schools and groups around Tucson. In addition, she is actively involved with other department activities and special events such as The Art of Planetary Science. Maria's reputation extends well beyond Tucson; for example, each year, Maria hosts a group of Norwegian students on a science tour of the U.S. She is always "in demand" in part because she infuses every interaction with joy, positivity, and enthusiasm for communicating science.

LPL and the University of Arizona are fortunate to have a science ambassador as dedicated as Maria; she truly embodies the spirit of the University Award for Excellence.

Charles "Chuck" See, a long-time member of the LPL family, passed away on January 8. Chuck was a native Tucsonan who earned a B.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering as well as an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Arizona. He spent ten years working as an aerospace engineer at firms like Sperry Space Systems (Phoenix), Allied Signal (Tucson), Westinghouse (Pittsburgh), Honeywell (Phoenix) & Westinghouse (Baltimore). In 1995, Chuck returned to the UA as a staff engineer working with Professor Martin Tomasko on the Cassini Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer (DISR) and the Huygens probe.

Chuck was a consummate aerospace engineer, possessing multiple skills that covered a variety of sub-disciplines: mechanical, thermal, electronic, systems, testing and flight operations. Never one to sit back and relax, he also developed his considerable analytical skills and became a talented scientific data analyst. Chuck was famously extroverted and a natural leader, usually tasked with being the U.S.-based DISR team’s instrument engineer during the Huygens probe’s Europe-based testing. Very popular with the other (largely European) instrument team members, he gracefully acted as the public face of an American DISR camera suite. He retired in 2006 but was retained part-time in order to curate and analyze the rich DISR data set.

Chuck had many outside interests:  he enjoyed remodeling homes; he had an avid interest and involvement in developing renewable energy; he was an active member of the community, most notably in his involvement at the campus Newman Center; and in 2008, he participated in a local reality journalism experiment, putting together a candidate platform for the U.S. presidential election. He also spent much of his time in semi-retirement caring for his mother and stepfather. 

A Celebration of Life was held at the St. Thomas More Catholic Newman Center on January 28.