In April, the UArizona College of Science celebrated Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Heritage Month with Dr. Renu Malhotra, a Regents Professor and Louise Foucar Marshall Science Research Professor in Planetary Sciences. The College of Science spoke with Dr. Malhotra, a native of India, to discuss her journey to the United States and the University of Arizona, her upbringing, and her favorite part about being a scientist. Read the interview here.

Dr. Matsuyama has been with LPL since 2011. His research is focused on understanding the formation and evolution of solar system planets and planetary satellites, with an emphasis on the connections between rotational dynamics, orbital dynamics, and interior structure. He develops theoretical models which are used to interpret spacecraft and ground-based observations.

Current research interests involve improving our understanding of (1) the formation and evolution of the Moon by analysis of the global lunar figure, which provides a record of prior orbital and rotational states; and (2) characterization of the thermal and orbital evolution of icy satellites, with particular emphasis on determining the long-term survivability of their subsurface oceans.

Dr. Koskinen’s research focuses on the structure and evolution of planet and satellite atmospheres in the Solar System and extrasolar planetary systems. He is particularly interested in the physics and chemistry of the middle and upper atmosphere that he studies with the analysis of observations and theoretical modeling. Tommi was a participating scientist on the Cassini mission and is still actively involved in researching the atmospheres of Saturn and Titan. He develops and maintains models of exoplanet atmospheres that are required to interpret current and planned observations as well as to simulate mass loss and address questions on long-term evolution. Dr. Koskinen was appointed as Assistant Professor at LPL in 2017.

Kris Klein's research focuses on studying fundamental plasma phenomena that governs the dynamics of systems within our heliosphere as well as more distant astrophysical bodies. He has particular interest in identifying heating and energization mechanisms in turbulent plasmas such as the solar wind.

Dr. Klein is serving the Deputy Principal Investigator for the HelioSwarm mission, a planned observatory to launch by the end of this decade nine spacecraft to measure the dynamics and evolution of turbulent plasmas at multiple points across multiple scales. In 2022, he received the Landau-Spitzer Award for Outstanding Contributions to Plasma Physics. He has been with LPL since 2017.

Angela grew up in New Jersey and attended Boston University as an undergraduate, with a Geophysics & Planetary Sciences major and Mechanical Engineering minor. She worked at both Columbia and Rutgers universities before attending graduate school at the University of Maryland, where she joined the NASA InSight mission team, focusing on the use of terrestrial geophysical analog locations to prepare for future missions.

Angela completed her Ph.D. in 2020 and spent two years as a postdoctoral scholar at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where she joined the Dragonfly mission team and continued working on planetary seismology problems, especially the modeling of icy ocean worlds. At LPL, Angela looks forward to developing the next generation of seismometers to explore the Solar System.