In August, Assistant Professors Jessica Barnes and Daniella DellaGiustina were recognized with a Women of Impact award by the University of Arizona's Office of Research, Innovation & Impact. Criteria for selection to this inaugural class of honorees included commitment to the mission and values of the university, an application of skills toward discovery and innovation, the enrichment of the community, and the empowerment of others to ensure lasting change.

Professor Jessica Barnes researches the origin and evolution of volatiles in the inner Solar System using nano and microanalytical techniques to study mineralogy, geochemistry, and petrological histories of extraterrestrial materials. She is preparing for the analysis of samples from asteroid Bennu, collected by the OSIRIS-REx mission. This much anticipated analysis is in part supported by a $1.5M gift that enabled the purchase of a nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometer. The contribution arose partly from admiration for Barnes' expertise in sample analysis and from an interest in supporting an early-career female scientist. In 2019, Professor Barnes was selected to receive funding to study previously unopened lunar samples collected by Apollo 17. She won a NASA Early Career Award in 2019, supporting and advancing her research and professional development. Also in 2019, Nature magazine named Professor Barnes as one of five young scientists who will shape the next 50 years of lunar research and exploration.

Professor Daniella DellaGiustina is Deputy Principal Investigator for the OSIRIS-REx mission. She is responsible for oversight of extended mission activities. She is also Principal Investigator for OSIRIS-APEX, which will swing by near-Earth asteroid Apophis in 2029 for an 18-month campaign of investigation and discovery.

Professor DellaGiustina received her Ph.D. in Geosciences from UArizona in 2021 and holds a M.S. in Computational Physics (University of Alaska Fairbanks) and a B.S. in Physics from UArizona. She investigates the surface and near-surface structure of small airless worlds across the solar system by developing and utilizing remote-sensing and geophysical instruments deployed by spacecraft. She enjoys field testing and validating instrumentation techniques at analog sites across on Earth and is especially interested in water distribution throughout the solar system and how to establish its presence using remote-sensing and in-situ techniques.

In October 2022, Popular Science magazine named her as one of the brilliant 10 top up-and-coming minds in science, taking on the biggest challenges and succeeding.