Faculty News

Professor Ilaria Pascucci won the 2025 University of Arizona Koffler Prize in the category of Research and Scholarship for her transformative contributions to our understanding of the formation and evolution of planetary systems.

Professor Pascucci's research is directed towards understanding how planets form and evolve and how common are planetary systems like our own Solar System. Her group carries out observations aimed at characterizing the physical and chemical evolution of gaseous dust disks around young stars, the birth sites of planets. In addition, they use exoplanet surveys to re-construct the intrinsic frequency of planets around mature stars. By linking the birth sites of planets to the exoplanet populations, they contribute to building a comprehensive and predictive planet formation theory, a necessary step in identifying which nearby stars most likely host a habitable planet like Earth.

In 2023, Dr. Pascucci's teaching was recognized with receipt of the Professor Leon and Pauline Blitzer Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Physics and Related Sciences. She was elected as a Fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2022.

The University of Arizona Koffler Prizes recognize outstanding accomplishment in the areas of teaching; research/scholarship/creative activity or public service/outreach with an emphasis on originality and international recognition.

The Parker Solar Probe team was honored with the 2024 Robert J. Collier Trophy by the National Aeronautic Association. This annual award recognizes the most exceptional achievement in aeronautics and astronautics in America with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles in the previous year. Professor Joe Giacalone and Associate Professor Kris Klein are both co-investigators on this mission.

Dr. Giacalone's core research interests include understanding the origin, acceleration, and propagation of cosmic rays, and other charged-particle species in the magnetic fields of space, and general topics in space plasma physics, and astrophysics.

Dr. 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.

LPL Research Scientist Dr. Mihailo Martinovic is an Affiliate with the Parker Solar Probe mission.

Regents Professor George Rieke has been named a University of Arizona Galileo Circle Fellow.

Dr. Rieke holds a B.A. in Physics from Oberlin College, and both an M.A. and Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University. In 1970, he joined the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) as a postdoctoral researcher, marking the beginning of a distinguished career at the University of Arizona. Throughout his tenure, Dr. Rieke has held several key roles in LPL, the Department of Planetary Sciences, the Department of Astronomy, and the Steward Observatory. In 2004, he was named Regents Professor for his exceptional abilities and achievement of national and international distinction.

Professor Rieke is the Science Team Lead for the Mid-Infrared Instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope. He previously led the development of the Multiband Imaging Photometer for SIRTF instrument for the Spitzer Space Telescope. His current science is focused on the capabilities of these instruments.

A prolific scholar, Dr. Rieke has co-authored more than 580 peer-reviewed publications which have received more than 58,000 citations, making him one of the most highly cited faculty members at the University of Arizona. Throughout his career, Dr. Rieke has mentored 29 Ph.D. students and supervised more than 30 postdoctoral fellows. In 2023, he was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest honor NASA bestows on non-government employees. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Galileo Circle Fellows are academic scholars who demonstrate a deep understanding over a broad range of science, a willingness to think in a truly interdisciplinary way, and an ability to inspire colleagues and students alike.

Associate Professor Kristopher Klein has been named a University Distinguished Scholar.

Dr. 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 Sun's extended atmosphere known as the solar wind, as well as evaluating the effects of the departure from local thermodynamic equilibrium on nearly collisionless plasmas which are ubiquitous in space environments. As part of this work, Prof. Klein is a co-developer of the Arbitrary Linear Plasma Solver (ALPS) numerical dispersion solver, an open source code used for quantifying the behavior of such non-equilibrium systems.

These systems are studied with a combination of analytic theory and numerical simulation, including large-scale nonlinear turbulence codes such as AstroGK, HVM, and gkeyll. These theoretical predictions are compared to in situ observations from spacecraft including NASA's Wind, MMS and Parker Solar Probe mission, as well as the upcoming HelioSwarm mission, which will fly nine spacecraft between the Earth and Moon to characterize the transport and dissipation of turbulent energy in space plasmas. By comparing theory with local plasma measurements, we aim to answer a variety of questions about the behavior of plasma in our solar system. Dr. Klein is the Deputy Principal Investigator of the HelioSwarm mission.

Dr. Klein has advised multiple graduate students, two of whom have successfully defended their Ph.D.s at LPL. He advised a postdoctoral research associate who has since become a research scientist, and has taught four courses at U of A, ranging from introductory 100-level courses through advanced 500-level graduate courses. He has published 118 Articles and has an h-index of 38; his papers have accumulated over 4700 citations.

Dr. Klein has been the recipient of both NASA’s Early Career Investigator Program Award and the American Physical Society’s Landau and Spitzer award for Outstanding Contributions in Plasma Physics. In 2024, Dr. Klein was awarded the Harvey Prize from the American Astronomical Society, in recognition of significant contributions in solar physics research made by an early career scientist. Dr. Klein was awarded for his outstanding contributions to the understanding of space plasma turbulence.

University of Arizona Distinguished Scholar Awards are granted to recently tenured and mid-career faculty who are making transformative contributions to their disciplines and to the university’s purpose, mission and values.

Dr. Steve Kortenkamp has been promoted to (full) Professor of Practice. Steve's research focuses on science education, with an emphasis on developing and exploring techniques, including development of 3D tactile resources, for teaching astronomy to students who are blind. He is also interested in planet formation and orbital dynamics of asteroids, dust particles, planetesimals. Steve has authored children’s science books for struggling readers in grades K-8. Dr. Kortenkamp teaches Planetary Sciences General Education classes, leads the Teaching Teams program and has been actively engaged with revising the General Education curriculum at the University of Arizona.

Congratulations to Associate Professor Tyler Robinson, promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure.

Dr. Robinson uses sophisticated radiative transfer and climate tools to study the atmospheres of Solar System worlds, exoplanets, and brown dwarfs. He also develops instrument models for exoplanet direct imaging. Tyler combines these areas of expertise in his work on the Habitable Exoplanet Observatory (HabEx) Science and Technology Definition Team, and in his contributions to the LUVOIR, WFIRST/Rendezvous, and Origins Space Telescope mission concept studies.

Professor Lynn Carter was promoted to Full Professor. Her research interests include volcanism and impact cratering on the terrestrial planets and the Moon, surface properties of asteroids and outer Solar System moons, planetary analog field studies, climate change, and the development of radar remote sensing techniques.

Dr. Carter is currently the Science Team Lead for the NASA-provided VenSAR radar on the ESA EnVision mission to Venus. In 2021, Professor Carter was named a University of Arizona Distinguished Scholar.

Dr. Jeff Andrews-Hanna has been promoted to Full Professor. Dr. Andrews-Hanna's research focuses on understanding the processes acting on the surfaces and interiors of the solid-surface planets and moons in our Solar System. He is interested in geodynamic, tectonic, magmatic, hydrologic, and climatic processes, at scales ranging from local to global. To this end, he combines the analysis of gravity, topography, and other remote sensing datasets with numerical modeling.

Dr. Jessica Barnes has been promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure.

Dr. Barnes' research focuses on understanding the origin and evolution of volatiles in the Solar System. She utilizes a combination of nano- and microanalytical techniques in the Kuiper-Arizona Laboratory for Astromaterials Analysis (KALFAA) to study mineralogy, geochemistry, isotopes and petrological histories of a wide range of extraterrestrial materials. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2023 Nier Prize from the Meteoritical Society and the 2020 NASA inaugural Planetary Science Early Career Award. She was honored with a University of Arizona Galileo Circle Curie Award in 2024 and was named to the University of Arizona 2022 inaugural Women of Impact class.

Associate Professor Kristopher Klein was named as the esteemed recipient of the 2024 Karen Harvey Prize. The award is made by the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society and honors the memory of the late Karen Harvey, recognizing significant contributions in solar physics research made by an early career scientist. Dr. Klein was awarded for his outstanding contributions to the understanding of space plasma turbulence.

Professor Klein’s innovative research includes in situ observations of the solar wind, novel data analysis methods, theoretical frameworks, and simulations. The work has resulted in groundbreaking insights into the kinetics of solar wind evolution and the nature of plasma turbulence dissipation.

The award also recognizes Dr. Klein’s leadership in the scientific community, including as Project Scientist for the Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons instrument on NASA’s Parker Solar Probe. Professor Klein is also Deputy Principal Investigator of the upcoming NASA HelioSwarm mission.

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