Department News

We would like to thank all those who have donated to LPL in 2022. Thanks to everyone for supporting research, education, and outreach at LPL.

by Claire Cook

The Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Conference (LPLC) marks the start of the academic year for the LPL community and other planetary scientists in the Tucson area. This year, LPLC was hosted in a hybrid format on August 19. Over 70 participants gathered at the Kuiper Building and on Zoom to watch 30 presentations given by faculty, staff, postdocs, and graduate students from LPL and other departments. Among the five invited speakers was Galen Bergsten, winner of the “Best Grad Student Presentation” in 2021. Galen gave a great talk titled There’s No Place Like Home: Exoplanets and Accessibility in a Local Context, which addressed both exoplanet science and how to make the science more inclusive and accessible. The “Best Grad Student Presentation” award went to Sam Myers, with a talk on near-Earth asteroids titled Comparing NEATM-like Models to IRTF and NEOWISE Data to Constrain Model Results. Sam will be invited to present at LPLC in 2023.

In addition to the invited speakers, 25 others gave presentations about their current or upcoming research. LPLC concluded with a keynote from OSIRIS-APEX Deputy Principal Investigator Dr. Michael Nolan on The OSIRIS-APEX Mission. A catered reception followed the conference, helping to keep the discussions going and bringing together the local planetary science community. The LPLC Organizing Committee, composed solely of LPL graduate students, is proud of this year's excellent turnout, engagement, and participation. We wish to thank the Tucson planetary science community for your continued support and are looking forward to another successful conference next fall!

Recent rankings by U.S. News & World Report and the National Science Foundation (NSF) once again recognize UArizona as one of the world's top research institutions.

UArizona ranked 108 out of 2,000 higher education institutions across 95 countries in the 2023 by U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities ranking, released on Oct. 24. The university was No. 44 among universities in the U.S. and No. 23 among public universities. UArizona again earned its best placement in the space science category, placing No. 10 overall, No. 6 (up from No. 7 last year) in the U.S. and No. 2 among public universities. The university earned top marks for its research reputation in space sciences, along with the number of citations and publications by UArizona researchers.

U.S. News & World Report's Best Global Universities ranks colleges and universities in 47 separate subjects. UArizona earned a spot on 34 of the subject ranking lists. The university's overall research reputation ranked No. 49 in the U.S. and No. 94 globally. To produce the global rankings, U.S. News & World Report uses a methodology that focuses on a university's global and regional reputation and academic research performance using indicators such as citations and publications. U.S. News uses a separate methodology for the subject-specific rankings that is based on academic research performance in each subject. U.S. News uses various measures, including publications and citations, as well as indicators for global and regional reputation in each specific subject area.

On Dec. 13, the NSF Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) survey again ranked UArizona among the nation's top public research universities, with $770 million in total research activity in fiscal year 2021. The HERD survey annually ranks more than 900 colleges and universities and is considered the primary source of information on research and development expenditures at U.S. colleges and universities. UArizona also retained its No. 1 ranking in astronomy and astrophysics (including planetary science) expenditures at more than $113 million – more than $40 million ahead of the No. 2-ranked university.

UArizona saw an increase of more than $9 million over its fiscal year 2020 total. Research and development expenditures rank No. 20 among public institutions and No. 36 overall, placing UArizona in the top 4% of all U.S. universities ranked in this list, both public and private. UArizona ranked No. 5 in NASA-funded activity and No. 6 in the physical sciences.

UArizona has held the No. 1 ranking in astronomy/astrophysics and planetary science expenditures each year since 1987.

Read more: 

• NSF: UArizona again ranks among top 20 public research universities, No. 1 in astronomy and astrophysics
• UArizona Space Sciences shine in US News Best Global Universities ranking

Spacewatch is enjoying the return to full-time regular operations, which resumed on December 7 after recovery from the Contreras Wildfire in June. Kitt Peak had previously been closed from March 2020 through October 2020 due to COVID, allowing only remote observing and daytime visits until June 2021.

Lightning caused the fire on June 11 in the Baboquivari Mountain range. Kitt Peak was evacuated on June 14 when high winds and dry conditions greatly accelerated the approach of the fire toward the observatory. Heroic efforts from the firefighter and flight crews and incident management teams preserved all of the science facilities. Only four structures were lost: two outbuildings, a residence, and the Arizona Radio Observatory (ARO) dorm. This is remarkable considering the fire swept over the southwest ridge that includes the ARO, Very Long Baseline Array antenna, and MDM. The official incident burn size was 29,482 acres.

The fire was deemed contained on June 24 and Bureau of Indian Affairs Type 4 Incident Management Team and National Burned Area Emergency Response Team took over. The Arizona Department of Transportation and the Tohono O’odham Utility Authority began work on the road and electrical infrastructures. Helicopters were required to fly in new electrical poles sited away from the road.

Spacewatch staff were allowed to begin clean-up operations in August, while on alert for emergency evacuation in case of a monsoon. After Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) installed temporary extra generators and a Starlink dish, Spacewatch was able to restart operations on September 6, although operations were hampered by the unreliability of generators — dome shutters are not opened unless there is some form of backup power. Line power was restored to the summit on October 7. With extremely limited bandwidth for the summit, Spacewatch was restricted to onsite observing and experienced frequent blips in connectivity. The internet fiber connection was restored on December 8, bringing Spacewatch back to full strength. However, the road is still closed to traffic, with only staff or experienced tenant drivers permitted to navigate the road without an escort vehicle.

In the early hours of Nov. 19, the skies over southern Ontario, Canada, lit up as a tiny asteroid harmlessly streaked across the sky high in Earth’s atmosphere, broke up, and likely scattered small meteorites over the southern coastline of Lake Ontario. Roughly 1 meter (3 feet) wide, the asteroid was detected 3.5 hours before impact, making this event the sixth time in history a small asteroid has been tracked in space before impacting Earth’s atmosphere.

Asteroid 2022 WJ1 was discovered by LPL's Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) on the evening of Nov. 18 during routine search operations for near-Earth objects. CSS observations were quickly reported to the Minor Planet Center and the data were then automatically posted to the Near-Earth Object Confirmation Page.

NASA’s Scout impact hazard assessment system automatically fetched the new data from that page and began calculating the object’s possible trajectory and chances of impact. Seven minutes after the asteroid was posted on the confirmation page, Scout had determined it had a 25% probability of hitting Earth’s atmosphere, with possible impact locations stretching from the Atlantic Ocean off the East Coast of North America to Mexico. More observations were then provided by the astronomical community to better refine the asteroid’s trajectory and possible impact site.

As CSS continued to track the asteroid over the next few hours, Scout used this new data to update the asteroid’s trajectory and the system’s assessment of the chance of impact, posting those results on the hazard-assessment system’s webpage.

2022 WJ1 is the fourth pre-impact asteroid discovered so far by CSS and attests to the ability of the survey to rapidly find and enable the orbit characterization of potentially hazardous objects.

Brooke Carruthers (Molecular and Cellular Biology major, Astrobiology minor) was been selected as a Universities Space Research Association (USRA) Distinguished Undergraduate for 2022 based on the strength of her academic accomplishments and leadership qualities. She was one of 5 recipients chosen from 85 applicants. Brooke was selected to receive the James B. Willett Education Memorial Scholarship, which recognizes the efforts of the late James B. Willett, a noted astrophysicist who worked with USRA through the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA Headquarters. 

The USRA awards are granted to students who tackle challenging problems in aerospace engineering, space science research and exploration, demonstrate leadership, promote diversity in science and engineering, and are poised to make significant contributions to their fields. Faculty from USRA’s member universities reviewed the applications and made their recommendations for selection to the USRA President and CEO, Dr. Jeffery Isaacson.

The research award consists of a certificate, an award letter, and a scholarship in the amount of $5,000. Regents Professor Renu Malhotra, current chair of USRA Council of Institutions, presented the award to Brooke on behalf of USRA and UArizona. Read more about Brooke in the Spring 2022 LPL Newsletter.

LPL welcomed 13 new graduate students in Fall 2022.

LPL Postdoctoral Research Associate Dr. Sarah Moran has been named a University of Arizona Sursum Fellow, selected for her proposal on Haze Evolution in sub-Neptune Exoplanets through UV Laboratory Experiments. The award is a postdoctoral research development grant designed to foster independence and help advance the career goals of postdoctoral scholars by funding small research projects or training experiences that are outside the scope of their current postdoctoral appointments. Sarah's research interests include exoplanets, planetary formation and evolution, and planetary atmospheres.

Kristin Block and Bertha Orosco were recipients of this year's LPL Staff Excellence Award. 

Kristin Block was awarded in the Science and Engineering category for her skills and expertise in systems engineering and project management, as well as contributions to productivity and communications initiatives, which are indispensable to the success of HiRISE. As Principal Science Operations Engineer for HiRISE, Kristin leads development of non-standard special HiRISE imaging and engineering sequences. She was recognized for a long career of outstanding contributions (she has been personally responsible for over 10,000 images of Mars!) and leadership, but this year’s nominations cite two particular efforts that are in addition to her regular duties as a targeting specialist.

During the COVID pandemic, Kristin led a group that implemented a new way of testing HiRISE camera settings that bypasses the original process, which required a long review and approval period. With this new process, HiRISE can test camera settings more than ten times faster without getting special instructions or approval, and the team has discovered combinations that will extend HiRISE lifespan by years. In addition to this extraordinary work, Kristin led a team to organize and acquire HiRISE most famous image of 2021—the landing of the Perseverance Rover on Mars. Capturing that moment was incredibly technically difficult and also complicated by the threat of potential communications failures. Thanks to Kristin’s coordination and leadership, mistakes were avoided and the descent was capture by the HiRISE camera. These descent images not only capture the public imagination but provide crucial data that makes it possible to reconstruct the craft's landing sequence and diagnose problems. 

Administrative Associate Bertha Orosco won the LPL Staff Excellence Award in the Administrative Category. Bertha, or Bert as she is known to the department, has been with LPL since 2010 and previously won this award in 2014. In addition to the more traditional administrative work like travel and procurement, Bert’s responsibilities include a wide-ranging variety of tasks, including keeping key elements of the LPL web site updated. Keeping up with all the transitions and updates at LPL is a challenge that Bert navigates exceptionally well. Bert’s achievements on the job are reflected in the increased variety and technical nature of her responsibilities and her willingness to expand her abilities, meet new challenges, and incorporate new tools to better serve the department and all those who contact her throughout any given busy day.

Bert’s work on behalf of LPL during the COVID pandemic is an example of her contributions toward both service and efficiency. Throughout the COVID shutdown, Bert volunteered for in-person duties so the department could function and move ahead with the safety of all in mind. When in-person classes resumed, Bert was in the office and the classrooms to ensure instructors and students had what they needed to accommodate sometimes complicated hybrid classroom and teaching models. She spent many hours over the summer of 2021 in Kuiper classrooms testing a variety of Zoom and audiovisual combinations and documenting procedures. Bert is regularly confronted with special requests and problems. She rises to each challenge with creativity, technical ability, and good humor. She is regularly in the office after 5:00p.m. to ensure that all reservations are approved, announcements are posted, and special events are accommodated, and she is always gracious when her lunch break is interrupted with a request for supplies or technical assistance in a classroom. Given all that she accomplishes in a day, Bert’s most important contribution is perhaps the community she helps to create and maintain even during the most challenging of times.

Also recognized at this year's LPL Awards and Recognition Reception was Administrative Assistant Savannah Salazar-White. Savannah began working with LPL in 2015 as a student. In 2018, she was hired as an Administrative Assistant and began expanding her responsibilities; her supervisor came to rely upon her to assist with training new staff. Savannah's reliability, efficiency, and problem-solving was extremely valuable during the COVID shutdown and her colleagues are thankful for her dedication throughout that period and her continued excellent administrative support.