The Department of Planetary Sciences/Lunar and Planetary Laboratory was pleased to name the following students as recipients of the 2013 College of ScienceGraduate Student Awards:

Outstanding Scholarship: Kathryn Volk

Outstanding Service and Outreach: Meghan Cassidy and Rob Zellem

Outstanding Teaching: Rob Zellem

Congratulations, Ali Bramson! Ali has been named the recipient of a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, which comes with three years of funding and tuition support.

Ali is a first-year student working with Shane Byrne. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin (B.S. in Physics and Astronomy).

PTYS graduate student Patricio Becerra is the recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award for Fall 2012. Patricio earned the award for his work as a GTA for Professor Tamara Rogers' PTYS 170B1 course during the Spring 2012 semester.

Professor Peter Smith has announced his retirement from The University of Arizona and LPL. Peter began his career at LPL in 1978 as a research assistant/postdoc; he was named Professor in 2009. Peter's career is rich with highlights and milestones, including:

Dr. Shane Byrne has been notified by the UA Provost of his promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure beginning with the 2013-2014 academic year.

Former longtime LPL staff member Tom Teska passed away on March 15, 2013.  Tom was the Manager for Mike Drake's Microprobe Lab from the early 1970s until 1998, when he retired.

LPL often gets mentioned alongside our well known colleagues across Cherry Street in Steward Observatory. It’s not so often that we are mentioned alongside our other well known colleagues across University Boulevard who play in McKale Center, but we did manage to rate a mention in Sports Illustrated this year. Check it out!

The first two installments of what is hoped will be a regular series of talks referred to as the LPL Staff Colloquium were held on Thursday, February 7, and Tuesday, May 7.

In February, members of Professor Alfred McEwen's HiRISE team spoke about their work and roles on the mission project. The colloquium was held in the Sonett Building and refreshments were served.

Congratulations to Terry Forrester, recipient of this year's LPL Staff Excellence Award, and kudos to Bert Orosco, cited as an honorable mention for the award.