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 one season. That experience motivated him to pursue an undergraduate degree (beginning with coursework at Pima Community College) with a major in geology and a minor in planetary science and mathematics. Nathanial has been assisting Dr. Ilaria Pascucci with research involving protoplanetary disk dispersal; next semester, he'll work with her to investigate the disk mass stellar mass relation using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array.  Nathanial has been involved with other science projects, including the fabrication and spectroscopy of ice dwarf analogue ices at Northern Arizona University, OSIRIS-REx stereophotoclinometry software maintenance through NASA Space Grant, paleoseismology field-work in Southern California, and Salt River Canyon detrital zircon dating. After graduation, Nathanial hopes to pursue a career in academic research.

When he's not working on his academic and research pursuits, Nathanial is busy with his many extracurricular hobbies and interests, which include baking bread and repairing radios, TVs, and vintage computers. He admits to having authored the only Macintosh System 6/7 Twitter client and part of his personal insect collection is on display at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Nathanial has played guitar and sung with several local bands: "The George Squier Orchestra often drew crowds of 8 or more people, and was named one of Tucson's best new bands by the Tucson Weekly while our debut album received an “Album of the Year” pick from the legendary Al Perry."  Nathanial also spends time outdoors and "derives great pleasure from traveling the world with my wife and from exploring Arizona's bounty of geology in my Suzuki Samurai."