LPL alumnus Jonathan Fortney (2004), professor of astronomy and astrophysics at U.C. Santa Cruz, has been appointed by the Simons Foundation as a Simons Investigator in Astrophysics. The award provides $500,000 over five years to support his research on planetary atmospheres. The Simons Investigator program supports outstanding theoretical scientists most productive years, when they are establishing creative new research directions, providing leadership to the field and effectively mentoring junior scientists. Fortney studies the atmospheres, interiors, and thermal evolution of planets, including exoplanets, and develops numerical models to explore many aspects of the physics of planets.