Faculty News

Tom Zega recently joined LPL/PTYS as an Assistant Professor. Prior to arriving at LPL, Tom spent seven years in the Materials Science Division at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington D.C., first as a National Research Council postdoctoral fellow, and then as staff scientist. At NRL, Tom used high-resolution electron microscopy techniques to investigate, among other things, the atomic structure and crystal chemistry of minerals within primitive meteorites to learn about the chemical evolution of the early solar system and ancient stars.

Tom was a member of the preliminary examination team for NASA's STARDUST mission, the first devoted to returning cometary material to Earth and the first to return extraterrestrial material since the Apollo missions returned lunar samples in the late sixties. A native of New Jersey, Tom earned his bachelor's degree in Geology from Rutgers University in 1996, after which he worked in the microscopy and X-ray diffraction laboratories of BASF Corporation for two years studying catalysts for environmental applications and zeolites for petrochemical refinement. Tom attended graduate school at Arizona State University where he earned his Ph.D. in 2003, also in Geology, and used transmission electron microscopy to study hydrated silicates in primitive meteorites as a means to gain insight into the aqueous chemistry that occurred on asteroids in the early solar system.

Tom's current research interests involve the study of: (1) presolar oxide grains to learn about nucleosynthesis and thermodynamics of ancient stars, (2) investigation of refractory inclusions in primitive meteorites to decipher formation of the first solids in the solar system, and (3) microstructural and molecular analysis of insoluble organic matter in primitive meteorites to gain insight into pre-biotic organic chemistry within the presolar and early solar nebula. Tom aims to build a world-class microscopy facility here at the University of Arizona that will support the wide range of research programs taking place across campus as well as the OSIRIS-REx mission when it returns the first samples from a carbonaceous asteroid in 2023.

Welcome, Tom!

Professor John Lewis retired from LPL in 2010. From the update he recently shared with us, however, it seems he is busier than ever!

Although I am nominally Emeritus, I am not exactly living life in an intellectual backwater. I do about one University speaking gig per month. The subject of space resources is very hot right now, as all the media stories about the Keck Institute asteroid retrieval mission and the "coming out party" of Planetary Resources Co. attest. I have been guest of honor (chief relic) on display at two international symposia devoted to my book, "Mining the Sky" at Vrije Universitet Amsterdam and Kyoto University. I haven't noticed anything in LPL mail about Planetary Resources, but there's a lot to be proud of there. The President is LPL's own [UA alumnus, former UA Space Grant student and president of UA SEDS] Chris Lewicki, and his advisors include [LPL alumni] Mark Sykes and Tom Jones. The company is based upon ideas set forth in "Mining the Sky," so of course I'm in the loop too. This is about the sixth such venture I've been involved with, including one involving Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker, Jeff Kargel, Larry Soderblum, and the two Original Lewises, that we put together just before Gene was killed, but this is the first and only one to have strong financial backing (meaning investment from Google top mangement). Lewicki, Jones, and I are all involved in the Keck Institute asteroid retrieval proposal team, aiming at moving a 500 to 1000-tonne NEA into a safe orbit around the Moon and opening it as an international research park. On the family front, fecundity is still the rule. Our six kids have now generated 32 grandchildren, of whom three are recently married (you can see where this is going).

We get one or two "scorchers" each year, when the mercury climbs to almost 80 degrees. We have extensive gardens and a large and ever-expanding family of Muscovy ducks to keep the snails ands slugs under control. Of course we also have winters: it snows here about as often as it does in Tucson. We live in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, so we get about 1/3 the rainfall of Seattle or Vancouver. Then there are the orcas, bald eagles, harbor seals, gray whales, and tourists to watch. Our home is about a mile from the ferry terminal that serves Victoria, BC, and Bouchard Gardens, both on the must-see list. [I recently made] my 6th trip to China covering the Shenzhou manned spacecraft series and the Chang'e lunar probes. I expect two more visits in the next 12 months, the Shenzhou 10 space station visit and the Chang'e 3 lunar lander and rover. It all take me back to the heady days of the 1960s, when everything was a first and events moved rapidly. "Hardly a man is now alive/ who remembers that fateful day and year."

Dr. Joellen Russell, Associate Professor in the UA Department of Geosciences, has been named to a courtesy joint appointment in the Department of Planetary Sciences (PTYS) and Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. Professor Russell is currently serving as the major advisor for PTYS graduate student Juan Lora. She is collaborating with Assistant Professor Daniel Apai on a pending NASA astrobiology proposal, and continues her work with former LPL faculty member, Jonathan Lunine. Professor Russell earned her Ph.D. in Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego: "The Biogeochemistry of Southern Ocean Intermediate and Mode Waters."

Welcome, Joellen, from everyone at LPL!

Regents' Professor Vic Baker will be the inaugural GSA (Geological Society of America) Distinguished International Lecturer this fall, giving lectures on "Megafloods on Earth, Mars, and Beyond" and "Geological History of Water on an Earth-like Planet" during a tour across Europe in October. Congratulations to Vic on the honor, and good luck on the tour.

The board game, Constellations: The Game of Stargazing and the Night Sky, produced by Xtronaut Enterprises, was awarded a 2018 Mensa Select seal from American Mensa. LPL Professor Dante Lauretta, chief science advisor for Xtronaut, co-created the game. The Mensa seal, awarded to only five games in 2018, recognizes games that are "original in concept, challenging and well-designed," and that "provide a high value for the price, are easy to comprehend and play, and prove highly entertaining."

Dr. Jack Holt joined the LPL faculty as Professor in April as part of the Earth Dynamics Observatory cluster hire, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Geosciences. He received his Ph.D. from Caltech in 1997, was a postdoctoral scholar at JPL, and then spent nearly 20 years at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was most recently a Research Professor at the Institute for Geophysics and the Department of Geological Sciences. He studies ice in the solar system with an emphasis on Mars and Earth. He is a Co-Investigator on the SHARAD radar sounder instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, conducts airborne geophysical studies of Alaskan glaciers as part of NASA’s Operation IceBridge, and has worked extensively in Antarctica. Jack is currently developing new radar sounder techniques and conducting geophysical studies of terrestrial debris-covered glaciers as Mars analogs. The Earth Dynamics Observatory is a collaboration across departments (and even colleges) at UA designed to complement the excellence in upward-looking science established by LPL and Steward Observatory with a downward-looking view of Earth as a planet.

Kudos to Assistant Professor Christopher Hamilton, who received the Geological Society of America (GSA) Early Career Award in the Mineralogy, Geochemistry, Petrology, & Volcanology Division. Professor Hamilton was previously awarded a NASA Early Career Fellowship.

In addition the GSA Early Career Award, Professor Hamilton won a faculty fellowship from NASA Marshall Space Flight Center; the fellowship provides a stipend and a 10-week summer residency at Marshall.

Professor Adam Showman has been named a 2018 Galileo Circle Fellow, one of the highest honors for faculty in the University of Arizona College of Science. 

This award recognizes scholars with "a deep understanding over a broad range of science, a willingness to think in a truly interdisciplinary way, and an ability to inspire colleagues and students." Galileo Fellows receive $5,000 and lifetime membership in the Galileo Circle.

LPL professors Renu Malhotra and Alfred McEwen are previous recipients of the Galileo Fellows Award. Congratulations to Adam on this well deserved honor!

Professor Roger V. Yelle was named a 2017 Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). Professor Yelle was awarded "for significant advances in understanding the upper atmospheres of planets and implications for planetary evolution." The Fellows program "recognizes AGU members who have made exceptional contributions to Earth and space sciences as valued by their peers and vetted by a committee of Fellows." Professor Yelle will be recognized at the AGU fall meeting in New Orleans on December 13.