2014 Fall Department News

Longtime LPL staff member Kathi Baker passed away on November 8, 2014, after a battle with cancer. Kathi was originally from Yuma, but made her home in Tucson with her husband, Tom, and their 3 children, Mackinzie, Kyle, and Zachary. Zac also has roots in LPL, having worked as a

Mrs. Shirley D. Curson-Weiss, friend and benefactor of LPL and the University of Arizona, died on April 21, 2014. Shirley (born Shandel Dauber) led a full, active life of travel and community involvement. She encouraged everyone, especially young people, to travel as part of the educational experience. To this end, she funded Shandel

Dr. Gerry Neugebauer, the husband of LPL Affiliate Research Scientist Marcia Neugebauer, passed away on September 26, after a long illness. Gerry earned a Ph.D. in physics from Caltech in 1960, after which he served two years in the army, stationed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. When he returned

Senior Staff Scientist Erich Karkoschka began his career at LPL in 1983 as a graduate student working with advisor Dr. Martin Tomasko. He defended his dissertation, "Saturn's atmoshpere in the visible and near infrared, 1986-1989," in 1990.

Erich has observed the giant planets and Titan on telescopes around

Justin Erwin joined LPL in May 2013, working as a post-doctoral fellow on the aeronomy of solar and extra-solar planets with Dr. Roger Yelle. His research focuses on the influence of close-in orbits on the escape of hydrogen from extrasolar gas giants. In particular, his research is focused on the

Ron Richards joined LPL as an Administrative Associate with the OSIRIS-REx project in April 2014. He recently returned to the University of Arizona after a six-year whirlwind employment tour of some of the other institutions of higher learning in the U.S. (University of South Florida, Nevada State College

Nathanial Hendler is an undergraduate minor in the Department of Planetary Sciences. Before beginning his studies at the UA, Nathanial worked for over ten years as a software developer (most recently as a game developer for Sony). He then took a job at Amundsen-Scott Station at the South Pole for