Graduate Student News

2021 Curson Travel Award

With support from the Curson Travel Award, fourth-year graduate student Indujaa Ganesh will spend two weeks in the Nine Hill paleovalley region in Western Nevada to research and understand the emplacement of the Nine Hill Tuff (NHT) there. The Nine Hill paleovalley hosts six different units of the NHT, one of the many extensive and long runout pyroclastic density current (PDC) deposits in the Great Basin. Indujaa's work will involve using anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility to estimate flow directions and also measuring outcrop thicknesses, grain size distributions, and lithofacies to understand the flow properties.

This research is relevant to Indujaa's current research on the mechanics of long runout PDC deposits on Venus. Indujaa adds, "This is also an opportunity to gain field experience in volcanic landscapes and build valuable geophysical skill sets, both of which will open up potential planetary analog research avenues in the future."


The Curson Education Plus Fund in Planetary Sciences and LPL was established by Shirley Curson, a generous donor and friend of LPL, for the purpose of supporting travel expenses outside the state of Arizona during summer break. The award is open to students in the Department of Planetary Sciences and Lunar and Planetary Laboratory who propose to fund study, museum visits, special exhibits, seminars, instruction, competitions, research and other endeavors that are beyond those provided by the normal campus environment and are not part of the student’s regular curriculum during the recipient’s school year.

LPI Career Development Awards

The 2021 LPI Career Development Awards were presented to students for first-author abstracts submitted to the 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Award selection is made by a panel of planetary scientists. Students receive support for cost of conference registration. LPSC allows students to showcase their research and provides excellent networking opportunities.


 

Kana Ishimaru 

Apparently Layered Boulders with Multiple Textures on Bennu's Surface (Advisor: Dante Lauretta)

 

 
 

 
Amanda Stadermann 
Apollo Sample 12032,366-18: Characterization and Experimental Investigation of a Chemically Evolved Lunar Basalt (Advisor: Jessica Barnes)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Zarah Brown Receives Andersson Award for Service and Outreach

The LPL Andersson Award for Service and Outreach is awarded annually to a PTYS graduate student in recognition for attention to broader impacts and involvement in activities outside of academic responsibilities that benefit the department, university, and the larger community. The award is named for Dr. Leif Andersson, a scientist who worked at LPL in the 1970s.


Fifth-year student Zarah Brown is the recipient of the 2021 LPL Andersson Award for Service and Outreach and the College of Science Excellence in Service Award for LPL.

Zarah has been active in service and outreach throughout her career as a graduate student and the Andersson award recognizes her many service and mentoring activities and dedication to communicating planetary science to the public.

Zarah is a frequent volunteer for events like Science City at the Tucson Festival of Books and STEAM Room at SpaceFest. She has participated in multiple outreach efforts to local schools, including Sahuarita Middle School, where she was part of an LPL graduate student effort to gather and design activities for the Math in Science program, with a goal of inspiring students about space science studies and applying themselves in math classes.

But Zarah's passion for education and communicating science goes beyond volunteering. She completed a Graduate Certificate in Science Communication, which included an independent study course to study and suggest methods of communicating effectively to a range of audiences (e.g., experts, grad students, K-12, general public) in order to make space science more accessible. Zarah put her studies into practice by sharing her experience with others through outreach events and a blog and reaching out to varied audiences---from working on a terraforming project with San Diego grade school students to lecturing about her own research to the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association.

This year, The Art of Planetary Science (TAPS) will feature a children's art component, thanks to Zarah's leadership and coordination. Zarah, a long-time TAPS volunteer, is collaborating with a local 6th grade teacher to engage local students with the artwork and writing themes of TAPS, specifically the topic of space travel, and encourage submissions to the exhibit.

Zarah’s dedication to accessible outreach for the broader public is perhaps best evidenced by her project as an Arizona NASA Space Grant Graduate Fellow---a fellowship that has just been renewed for a second year. Zarah is developing a scale model of our solar system on the University of Arizona’s campus. Zarah’s scale model solar system will communicate the roles that LPL and the university have played in space exploration and will have a lasting physical legacy that educators on campus and in the community can use for years to come.

2021 Galileo Circle Scholarships

Congratulations to LPL's 2021 Galileo Circle Scholarship recipients: Claire Cook, Indujaa Ganesh, Kana Ishimaru, Tyler Meng, Patrick O'Brien, Laura Seifert, Amanda Stadermann, and Zoe Wilbur. 

Galileo Circle Scholarships are awarded to the University of Arizona's finest science students and represent the tremendous breadth of research interests in the University of Arizona College of Science. Galileo Circle Scholarships are supported through the generous donations of Galileo Circle members. Galileo Circle Scholars receive $1,000 each and the opportunity to introduce themselves and their research to the Galileo Circle patrons.

Claire Cook
(Advisor: Shane Byrne)

Seeks to understand climate and habitability throughout the solar system using remote sensing and modeling of icy deposits.

Indujaa Ganesh
(Advisor: Lynn Carter)

Studies volcanic landforms on planets like Mars and Venus to understand how a planet’s volcanic past and changes in volcanic style through time shaped its surface that we see today.

Kana Ishimaru
(Advisor: Dante Lauretta)

Analyzing asteroid Bennu’s layered boulders using OSIRIS-REx remote sensing data to understand the implications for the geologic processes that occurred there in the early solar system.

Tyler Meng
(Advisor: Jack Holt)

Research interests include geophysics, glaciology, and surface processes.

Patrick O'Brien
(Advisor: Shane Byrne)
Using numerical modeling to study surface processes, creating a generally applicable landscape evolution model for atmosphereless bodies like the Moon, Mercury, and Ceres.
Laura Seifert
(Advisor: Tom Zega)

Analyzes circumstellar grains preserved inside primitive meteorites using transmission electron microscopy.

Amanda Stadermann
(Advisor: Jessica Barnes)
Studies lunar basalts to better understand the Moon in preparation for future sample return missions.
Zoe Wilbur
(Advisor: Jessica Barnes)

Investigating the history of volatile loss in Apollo 15 and Apollo 17 basalts utilizing a coordinated analysis campaign.

 

Kuiper Award to Theodore Kareta

Teddy Kareta is the recipient of the Gerard P. Kuiper Memorial Award and the College of Science Excellence in Scholarship Award for LPL for 2021. He is a fifth-year student whose dissertation will focus on the near-Earth asteroid Phaethon. Teddy has presented his analysis of Phaethon observation data in well-received talks at Lowell Observatory and a 2018 Division for Planetary Sciences press conference, resulting in a press release for a first author paper (Kareta et al. 2018. Rotationally Resolved Spectroscopic Characterization of Near-Earth Object (3200) Phaethon). Teddy has extended this work by completing observations of the related asteroid 2005 UD, which led to an invited talk at the International Dust and Parent Body conference in Tokyo in 2019. His research also extends to Centaur objects.
 

Teddy can currently claim four published first-author papers and one accepted, with nine published co-author papers. In addition to his productive research, Teddy has been an effective mentor for undergraduates. His advisor, Associate Professor Vishnu Reddy, writes, “The diversity of Teddy’s published research speaks to his command over the knowledge and skills required to answer key questions about solar system origin.”


The citation for the Kuiper Award reads: "This award is presented to students of the planetary sciences who best exemplify, through the high quality of their researches and the excellence of their scholastic achievements, the goals and standards established and maintained by Gerard P. Kuiper, founder of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and the Department of Planetary Sciences at the University of Arizona."

Seifert Wins MSA Student Scholar Award

Second-year student Laura Seifert received a Student Scholar Award from the Microanalysis Society of America for her contributed paper, Multi-keV Analyses of a Presolar Mg-Silicate Grain via SEM/STEM.

The award is presented for outstanding papers submitted to the annual Microscopy & Microanlaysis (M&M) meeting and supports the costs of travel and registration to the annual M&M meeting. The award was presented to Laura at the 2018 M&M meeting held in Baltimore. Laura's research interests include cosmochemistry and planetary surfaces; her advisor is Associate Professor Tom Zega.

2020 Carson Fellowship to Sam Myers

Samuel Myers is the recipient of the 2020 Carson Fellowship Award, which provides one academic year of support, including salary, tuition, and a supply stipend. Sam is a first-year graduate student at LPL.  

Sam has been interested in space and the idea of alien civilizations since childhood. His parents fueled that interest with books about space and the solar system. Sam loved watching space and space flight documentaries and was fascinated by Space Shuttle launches. He developed an early interest in math and physics, which led him to focus on science and physics in high school. Sam chose to attend the University of Idaho specifically because the would have the opportunity to begin a research program as an undergraduate student. He chose to major in physics and astronomy with LPL alumnus Dr. Jason Barnes as an advisor. Sam's childhood interest in other worlds was reignited as he learned about Professor Barnes' studies of organic molecules in Titan's atmosphere and the habitability of exoplanets. Sam's undergraduate research began with characterizing exoplanet orbits; he had the opportunity to assist with a graduate research project that led to the publication of Sam's own research. Sam's extracurricular interests include music (he plays the piano) and fantasy literature and tabletop games.


The Lt. Col. Kenneth Rondo Carson and Virginia Bryan Carson Graduate Fellowship is an endowment established by the estate of Virginia B. Carson, honoring her husband, a former member of the "Flying Tigers," a former member of the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff Strategic Air Command, retired master navigator and enthusiast of space exploration. Colonel Carson greatly admired the professionalism and accomplishments of NASA's space program. The Carson Fellowship is awarded to students pursuing degrees in the Department of Planetary Sciences, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, selected on the basis of academic achievement and the promise of further scholarly endeavor.

FINESST Awards for 2020

Congratulations to this year's recipients of Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science Technology (FINESST) awards:

Alessondra Springmann

Inner Coma Grain Environments of Jupiter Family Comets (advisor: Walt Harris)

Joana Voigt

Deciphering Effusive Eruption Styles throughout Elysium Planitia, Mars: Linking Lava Emplacement Dynamics with Magmatic Storage Condition (advisor: Christopher Hamilton)

Zoe Wilbur

Investigating Degassing Histories of Apollo 15 and 17 Lunar Basalts with 3D Visualization and Coordinated Microanalysis (advisor: Jess Barnes)

Graduate Student Scholarships and Fellowships

Third-year graduate student Emileigh Shoemaker was named a John Mather Nobel Scholar for 2020. Scholars receive a $3000 scientific travel grant over a two-year period, in support of costs for presenting research papers at professional conferences. The program is open to current undergraduate and graduate student summer interns at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. The awards are given by The John and Jane Mather Foundation for Science and the Arts in partnership with the National Space Grant Foundation. Emileigh's advisor is Associate Professor Lynn Carter.


Joana Voigt has won an Amelia Earhart Fellowship. The $10,000 fellowship is awarded each year by Zonta International to up to 35 women pursuing doctoral degrees in aerospace engineering and space sciences. The fellowship was established in 1938 in honor of Amelia Earhart, famed pilot and member of the Zonta Clubs of Boston and New York. The fellowship biography for Joana is available from Zonta International. Joana is a fourth-year student working with Associate Professor Christopher Hamilton.

Zarah Brown Wins Space Grant Fellowship

Fourth-year student Zarah Brown has won a UA/NASA Space Grant Graduate Fellowship from the Arizona Space Grant Consortium. Zarah's winning proposal, The Arizona Scale Model Solar System, has as its objective the installation of a 1:5 billion scale model of the solar system on the UArizona campus. The model would stretch from the Kuiper building, site of the Sun and inner planets, to the western edge of campus (Park Avenue), where Neptune will be located. The project, in addition to highlighting the university's legacy of space exploration, supports objectives in math and critical thinking as it inspires enthusiasim and appreciation for science and math.

The scale model project facilitates an active learning environment, supporting visual and kinesthetic learners. A prominent objective is to engage undergraduate non-science majors who struggle with concepts such as astronomical scale, speed and distance, so the project will include course materials designed to support faculty who teach introductory astronomy and planetary science courses at the University of Arizona. Specifically, Zarah will develop a one-day lab exercise for use in conjunction with the model, partnering with one or more instructors to implement its use. The lab exercise and associated materials will be curated at LPL by Associate Professor of Practice Dr. Steve Kortenkamp, who will ensure the materials are kept current and available to instructors. Learning outcomes include:

  • Remembering the planets in the solar system and their order
  • Understanding key differences between terrestrial and gas planets
  • Demonstrating ability to convert between units and an understanding astronomical units
  • Being able to calculate the distances to other objects on this scale
  • Knowing the speed of light and being able to explain why communication by light is the most realistic means of communication between star systems

Zarah envisions the model becoming a favorite destination for local K-12 schools, perhaps in partnership with Flandrau Science Center. Installation is planned for the first half of 2022.


The UA/NASA Space Grant Program, in collaboration with the UA Graduate College and the nominating department, funds six graduate fellowships per year to exceptional graduate students interested in promoting the understanding of space-related research to the public. Applicants are asked to propose a 1-2 year project focused on educational outreach, knowledge transfer, technology transfer, science for society, and/or the promotion of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to those traditionally underrepresented in STEM. In keeping with National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program goals, Space Grant Fellows develop projects that promotes the understanding of space-related research to the public through original research and outreach efforts. Awards include a stipend, tuition and registration fee waivers, student health insurance, and a travel grant to attend professional conferences.