Faculty News

Dr. Joellen Russell has been named a University Distinguished Professor in recognition of her long-term commitment and outstanding contributions to undergraduate education. Professor Russell is best known as a teacher for her very popular Introduction to Oceanography class, which had more than 1000 students one semester. She has also regularly taught an undergraduate course in Teaching Geosciences.

Professor Russell's research uses global climate and earth system models to simulate the climate and carbon cycle of the past, the present and the future, and develops observationally-based metrics to evaluate these simulations. She leads the modeling theme of the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling project and chairs the NOAA Science Advisory Board’s Climate Working Group; she also serves as an Objective Leader for the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research’s AntarcticClimate21, and on the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s Community Earth System Model Advisory Board.

Professor Russell holds faculty appointments in the departments of Geosciences, Planetary Sciences, Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, and Mathematics, and has been the Thomas R. Brown Distinguished Chair of Integrative Science since 2017. She has been at the University of Arizona since 2006, and on the LPL faculty since 2012.

Associate Professor Lynn Carter is the recipient of a Distinguished Scholars Award from the University of Arizona. The award recognizes outstanding mid-career faculty who create transformative innovations in their disciplines and make highly valued contributions to the teaching, research, and outreach priorities set out in the University of Arizona's Strategic Plan. In 2016, Dr. Carter received the Presidential Early Career Award, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government to outstanding scientists who show exceptional promise for leadership and for contributions to public education and outreach.

Dr. Carter is an expert in the use of radar to explore planetary surfaces and subsurfaces; she is currently a team member on six spacecraft instruments. Dr. Carter has held advisory and leadership positions both nationally (NASA steering committees and advisory panels) and locally, serving on the Executive Committee of the Earth Dynamics Observatory and as a member of the inaugural Executive Panel for the Arizona Space Institute, organized from the Strategic Plan call to provide a systematic approach to compete for spacecraft instruments and missions.

Dr. Carter's contributions to UArizona extend to her service as an exceptional mentor and advisor to graduate students and postdoctoral researchers and her ongoing and demonstrated advocacy for inclusiveness, especially in STEM fields.

Associate Professor Christopher Hamilton is the recipient of a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to Iceland for Planetary Analog Research in Iceland: Investigations of the 1783–1784 Laki and 2014–2015 Holuhraun Lava Flow-Fields.  Dr. Hamilton will work with colleagues at the University of Iceland to document the products of Icelandic flood lava eruptions as well as their impacts on the environment, including astrobiologically relevant lava-water interactions. This project includes three major objectives: geomorphological mapping of the Holuhraun lava flow-field to relate observed surface textures to eyewitness accounts of the eruption; determination of sources for endospore-forming microbial organisms identified within Holuhraun’s lava-induced hot springs; and examination of newly exposed deposits at the northern end of the Laki cone row, where a previously undocumented subglacial fissure segment is now exposed due to ice retreat.

As a Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Hamilton will share knowledge and foster meaningful connections across communities in the United States and Iceland. Fulbrighters engage in cutting-edge research and expand their professional networks, often continuing research collaborations started abroad and laying the groundwork for forging future partnerships between institutions. Upon returning to their home countries, institutions, labs, and classrooms, they share their stories and often become active supporters of international exchange, inviting foreign scholars to campus and encouraging colleagues and students to go abroad. As Fulbright Scholar alumni, their careers are enriched by joining a network of thousands of esteemed scholars, many of whom are leaders in their fields. Alumni include 60 Nobel Prize laureates, 86 Pulitzer Prize recipients, and 37 who have served as a head of state or government.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to forge lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries, counter misunderstandings, and help people and nations work together toward common goals. Since its establishment in 1946, the Fulbright Program has enabled more than 390,000 dedicated and accomplished students, scholars, artists, teachers, and professionals of all backgrounds to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and find solutions to shared international concerns. The Fulbright Program is funded through an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the Program, which operates in more than 160 countries worldwide.

Regents' Professor Alfred McEwen has been elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America. Fellows are named "in recognition of a sustained record of distinguished contributions to the geosciences and the Geological Society of America through such avenues as publications, applied research, teaching, administration of geological programs, contributing to the public awareness of geology, leadership of professional organizations." Professor McEwen is Principal Investigator (PI) for the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), the most powerful camera ever sent to another planet, one of six instruments onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. He is also PI for the Io Volcano Observer, or IVO, mission, which is among the four finalists for the next $500 million NASA Discovery mission. If selected, IVO will orbit Jupiter and make 10 close flybys of its moon Io – the most volcanically active world in the solar system – to determine if the moon has a magma ocean hidden beneath its vibrant, pockmarked surface.

Associate Professor Christopher Hamilton was appointed as a Scialog Fellow in the Signatures of Life in the Universe initiative, a three-year program co-sponsored by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement and the Heising-Simons Foundation, with support from the Kavli Foundation. Signatures of Life in the Universe will bring together scientists from many disciplines to initiate research on the topics of habitability of planets, detection of life beyond Earth, and life in extreme environments on Earth or in Earth’s distant past.

Kudos to Assistant Professor Kristopher Klein, Deputy Principal Investigator for HelioSwarm, on having the mission proposal chosen by NASA as one of five Medium-Class Explorer proposals that will each receive $1.25 million to conduct a nine-month mission concept study. The proposed missions aim to help improve our understanding of the dynamics of the Sun and the constantly changing space environment with which it interacts around Earth. The information will improve understanding about the universe as well as offer key information to help protect astronauts, satellites, and communications signals—such as GPS—in space. Following the study period, NASA will choose up to two proposals to go forward to launch. Each potential mission has a separate launch opportunity and timeframe.

HelioSwarm would observe the solar wind over a wide range of scales to determine the fundamental space physics processes that lead energy from large-scale motion to cascade down to finer scales of particle movement within the plasma that fills space, a process that leads to the heating of such plasma. Using a swarm of nine SmallSat spacecraft, HelioSwarm would gather multi-point measurements and be able to reveal the three-dimensional mechanisms that control the physical processes crucial to understanding our neighborhood in space. Professor Harlan Spence at the University of New Hampshire leads the mission as Principal Investigator.

The American Astronomical Society (AAS) inaugurated its Fellows Program with a 2020 legacy class that included several LPL scientists:

• Professor Emeritus William Hubbard
• Regents' Professor George Rieke
• Robert Seaman, Senior Data Engineer
• Visiting Research Scholar Mark Giampapa
• Visiting Research Scholar Jack Harvey
• Visiting Research Scholar John Leibacher
• Visiting Research Scientist Neil Sheeley

Two LPL alumni were also named as AAS Fellows:

• Dale Cruikshank (NASA Ames Research Center)
• Faith Vilas (Planetary Science Institute)

Dr. Christopher Hamilton has been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. Dr. Hamilton's research focuses on geological surface processes to better understand the evolution of the Earth and other planetary bodies. His specialty relates to volcanology and specifically to lava flows, magma-water interactions, and explosive eruptions using a combination of field observations, remote sensing, geospatial analysis, machine learning, and geophysical modeling.

Dr. Walter Harris has been promoted to Full Professor. Dr. Harris' research is focused on the structure of thin atmospheres and their transition to and interactions with the space environment. He is particularly interested in the information that comet atmospheres provide about basic photochemical processes, the formation of the solar system, and the characteristics of the solar wind. He is also engaged in an ongoing study of the plasma interface between the solar wind and interstellar medium via remote sensing of interstellar neutral material as it passes through the solar system.

Assistant Professor Jessica Barnes was profiled by Nature magazine (10 July 2019) as a researcher whose work will shape the next 50 years of lunar research.

Assistant Professor Lynn Carter was named a recipient of a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

Assistant Professor Kristopher Klein received the 2019 NASA Early Career Investigator Program (Heliophysics) Award in the first year of the program.

Professor Amy Mainzer has been elected Vice Chair of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences. The position is a one-year term (2019-2020).

Professor Adam Showman was elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU); this honor is reserved for 0.1% for the AGU's membership each year. Professor Showman was recognized at Honors Tribute during the fall 2019 AGU meeting.

Dr. Robert McMillan, Associate Research Scientist and Principal Investigator for the SPACEWATCH® program at LPL, retired on June 30, 2019. Bob began his career at LPL in 1979 as a Research Associate and became an Associate Research Scientist in 1995. Although he has “retired,” Bob is still managing SPACEWATCH® and scanning the skies from Kitt Peak. The SPACEWATCH® team had the pleasure this summer of hosting a celebration to congratulate Bob on his long career and retirement, and to wish him clear skies on his upcoming observing runs.