The LPL Leif Andersson Award for Service and Outreach will be 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.
2018 Andersson Award to Maria Steinrück
Maria Steinrück, third-year student, received the the newly endowed Leif Andersson Award for Service and Outreach. Maria was recognized for her leadership and service in furthering equity and diversity at LPL and across campus and the Tucson community, as well as her work for LPL science outreach. Some of her efforts include: serving as the impetus behind the gender-neutral Kuiper restroom and signage; workng as a core organizer for the Women Techmakers Tucson Hackathon since 2016; providing vision and advocacy for gender parity in STEM spaces; her willingness to work on all aspects of program logistics like social media and set-up, but also served as a sought-after mentor Maria's work with the LPL Women group included initiating bi-monthly discussion lunches and expanding participation and networking for the group; thanks to her leadership, a new Department Life section of the LPL web site was launched this year. As part of her service as an organizer for the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Conference (LPLC), Maria applied Safe Zone guidelines and inclusivity best practices to the selection of speakers for LPLC, and advocated for use of pronouns on LPLC conference materials. Maria is also a frequent volunteer at outreach and STEM events like the Tucson Festival of Books and LPL's Summer Science Saturday.