Spring

UA Innovation Day honors Mike Drake

On Tuesday, March 6, the University of Arizona (UA) hosted its ninth annual Innovation Day at the UA. The event, attended by over 300 people, celebrated the UA's success in technology development and innovation by highlighting the research achievements of students, staff, and faculty.

During the luncheon, the UA community recognized the extraordinary accomplishments of Michael J. Drake (1946-2011). Mike was recognized for his accomplishments as a leader in the cosmochemistry, and as the guiding force behind the Phoenix Mars Mission and the OSIRIS-REx mission.

On March 10 and 11, the UA campus hosted the Tucson Festival of Books. The Festival was bigger than ever and LPL had a great presence this year.

The Kuiper Space Sciences lecture hall hosted several talks, including two "Mars 101" lectures by HiRISE EPO Manager Ari Spinoza.

OSIRIS-REx principal investigator Dante Lauretta lectured about the mission at the Science Cafe.

At the Science City venue, located on the mall in front of the Kuiper building, LPL volunteers hosted two hands-on activities: impact cratering and meteorites. The volunteers report interacting with over 1,000 visitors over the weekend. LPL is proud to have helped make the Festival of Books the success that it was. We are looking forward to next year's event!

Related stories:
Tucson Festival of Books to Transform UA Campus

As well as being time for the LPL spring newsletter, it's also the first month of major league baseball season, and those of you who know me know that I think in baseball terms. Therefore, I think it's appropriate to discuss LPL's future chances the way the sportswriters discuss baseball teams.

We've had a lot of turnover on our roster lately, between deaths, departures, and new hires, and even have a new manager (so to speak), so some might think that means we're in for a "rebuilding" phase. That's a term that often means that a team has been forced to use a lot of young players, and hopes that some of them will turn out to be good. However, teams talking about "rebuilding" years are often teams that haven't been very good in the past, and don't look to be very good for the near future, like the Cubs (with apologies to Jim Head and other Cub fans). By virtually any measure, LPL has been a powerhouse---for example, remember the Thomson-Reuters survey of publications in which we were the leading academic department in the world by a large margin, reported in the last newsletter. And despite the fact that we've lost some All-Star caliber faculty recently, the near-term prospects aren't bad, either. Four current graduate students have won nationally competitive awards in the last month, a graduating student was named the outstanding researcher in UA's College of Science, an undergraduate Space Grant intern presented his research on Capitol Hill, we continue to have spacecraft success ranging from the spectacular images that HiRISE regularly returns to the ongoing Saturnian system science of Cassini VIMS to the enthusiasm building for OSIRIS-REx, and yet another talented new faculty member has come on board (Isamu Matsuyama). This newsletter will tell you a lot of the happenings going on in and around LPL. Some of the names may be unfamiliar, but the level of accomplishment should not be.

Rather than "rebuilding," I think we're in the phase baseball folks referred to as "retooling." Those are the teams that change players, but always seem to win (I'd compare us to the Yankees, but we don't have the advantage in resources that they do). LPL is different today than it was five years ago, and it will be different in five years than it is now. The average age of the faculty has gotten much younger, something that needs to happen occasionally. We currently have five assistant professors, and will be hiring more new faculty in the next few years. Yet we still have a core of the veteran faculty who have been responsible for LPL's greatness in the last two or three decades, as well as some mid-career faculty who are at the peak of the field right now.

There is no doubt that we are in the midst of a transition, and like any transition, it will inevitably have its painful moments. But it is also a very exciting time, because we are in the midst of redefining our future. Like any great baseball team, though, we hope to continue to be the ones that the rest are trying to catch up with.

Take a look through the newsletter, and see what's happening with the LPL "team" these days.

Oh, and don't forget to drop us a line once in awhile, so that we can pass along what's happening in your world.

Professor Joe Giacalone was the recipient of the 12th Annual Professor Leon and Pauline Blitzer Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Physics and Related Sciences. Jacob Mallott and Eric Blitzer presented Professor Giacalone with the award at a special afternoon program held on March 2, 2017. Professor Giacalone's award lecture was titled Solar Storms, Space Radiation and their Effects on Earth and Space Travel.  A reception followed in the Kuiper Space Sciences atrium.

Joe has taught courses at all levels including introductory courses in planetary sciences, advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in the physics of the solar system, and an advanced graduate course on the physics of the Sun. His research focus is on understanding the origin and physical processes involved in creating high-energy charged particles near the Sun and how they move throughout the solar system. Joe earned a B.A. in Mathematics (1985) and B.S. in Physics (1986) from Ft. Lewis College; he completed a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Kansas in 1991. Joe began his career at LPL in 1993 as a post-doctoral research associate and joined the tenure-track faculty in 2004. He was a winner of a NASA Early Career award in 2005. He has been directly involved with number of NASA missions, including Ulysses, ACE, and Voyager, and is currently a Co-Investigator for the upcoming NASA mission Solar Probe Plus, launching next year, which will explore the outer atmosphere of the Sun. 

The Blitzer Award is funded through the Blitzer Teaching Award Fund, and commemorates Professor Leon Blitzer and his wife, Pauline Meyer Blitzer.

Tobias ("Toby") Owen passed away on March 4. Toby was one of the very early graduate students in LPL; he received his Ph.D. in Astronomy in 1965, with Gerard Kuiper as his thesis advisor. He spent his career at IIT Research Institute, SUNY-Stony Brook, and the University of Hawai'i. In 2009, he received the DPS Gerard P. Kuiper Prize in recognition of his work. More information about Toby's life and career is available in the AAS obituary by Dale Cruikshank.

This photo by Dale Cruikshank captures Tobias Owen (R) and Gerard Kuiper (L) at a radio telescope in Texas circa 1970.

Andrea Banzatti joined LPL in October 2016 as a Postdoctoral Research Associate with Associate Professor Ilaria Pascucci. Andrea is trying to unveil unknown parts of the story of planet formation from multi-wavelength observations of protoplanetary disks. By observing them at UV, optical, infrared, and millimeter wavelengths, and especially using high-resolution spectrographs, Andrea is studying the presence of water in planet-forming regions at 0.1-10 AU from the central stars, the dispersal of molecular gas during planet formation, and the effects of variable irradiation on the molecular and organic chemistry in inner disks.

Andrea was born in Milan, Italy, where he lived and studied until 2008. He moved to Munich, Germany, at the European Southern Observatory headquarters for his Master’s thesis on observations of grain growth towards planets in disks. He then moved to the ETH in Zurich, Switzerland, for his Ph.D. with Prof. Michael Meyer. Andrea's doctoral research was on infrared spectra of protoplanetary disks, with the goal of understanding the survival of water in planet-forming regions. After completing his Ph.D., Andrea moved to Baltimore for a postdoctoral position with Dr. Klaus Pontoppidan at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI); during this time at STScI, Andrea specialized in high-resolution infrared spectroscopy of molecular emission from disks, and on observations of their properties and dispersal during planet formation. Andrea now lives in Tucson with his family: wife, Giulia, and three international children (the first born in Italy, the second in Baltimore, the third in Tucson).

Postdoctoral Research Associate Pierre Haenecour joined LPL in January 2017. He works with Associate Professor Tom Zega as part of the NASA Nexus Earths in Other Solar Systems (EOS) team. Pierre's research is on the characterization and coordinated in-situ study of primitive organic matter in meteorites and interplanetary dust particles using ultrahigh-resolution ion- and electron-microscopy techniques. His research background is in geochemistry and cosmochemistry from terrestrial samples (e.g., Pb and Zn isotopes in Archean komatiitic lava flows) to primitive extraterrestrial samples (e.g., meteorites and micrometeorites) using a variety of analytical techniques (e.g., multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and secondary ion mass spectrometry, Auger and Raman spectroscopy, and electron microscopy). His research interests encompass the study of the building blocks and early history of the Solar System history, and the origin of life.

Pierre grew up in Brussels (Belgium) and graduated with B.A. and M.S. degrees in Geology and Geochemistry from the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He then moved to St. Louis (Missouri) and obtained a M.A. degree and a Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Washington University in St. Louis. His doctoral research work focused on the identification and coordinated micro-analytical study of circumstellar (presolar) grains in primitive meteorites and fine-grained micrometeorites. Pierre also enjoys exploring the Tucson area and Arizona, as well as travelling, discovering new places and cooking. 

Francine Wetzel is an Administrative Associate who began her career at LPL in January 2017. She works with several groups located on the second floor of the Kuiper Building, including Space Watch, and the research groups of Walt Harris and Vishnu Reddy.

Chéri Winfield joined LPL in December 2016 as an Administrative Associate. She supports several faculty members and groups, including Tim Swindle, NASA Arizona Space Grant, Jeff Andrews-Hanna, and Lynn Carter. Chéri's professional background includes administrative support experience for the Dean of Engineering at the University of New Mexico and 14 years at Raytheon. Before coming to LPL, Chéri worked for a not-for-profit in Tucson.

Congratulations to Glinda Davidson, the 2017 recipient of the LPL Outstanding Staff Award!

Glinda is a longtime member of the LPL administrative staff, with nearly 30 years of service to the department.  She began her career at LPL in 1988 as a Business Office Clerk, advancing to Associate Accountant in 1990. From 1997-2008, Glinda supported the Boynton group and other faculty as an Administrative Associate. She continued supporting faculty as a Senior Program Coordinator before becoming an Administrative Supervisor and Budget Analyst in 2013, and then moving into the role of Grants and Contracts Manager with the LPL Business Office soon after. Her many responsibilities include review and approval of grant submissions, budget changes, no-cost extensions, and grant correspondence, as well as pre-award and post-award compliance. Glinda performs cost projections and meets regularly with the faculty and principal investigators to avoid project deficits and resolve problems. Her work extends beyond preparing and managing budgets—she helps to ensure funding continuity for students, post-doctoral researchers, faculty, and staff. Despite the frustrations that Glinda might encounter in a day she is unfailingly courteous and cooperative. She overcomes the obstacles with a smile every day.

In addition to her responsibilities as the Grants Manager, Glinda also supervises several administrative associates and two members of the business office staff. She is recognized as an outstanding supervisor and a great mentor and coach. Glinda always makes herself available to the staff regardless of other pending priorities.

In the words of one faculty member, "I don't know what my group would do without her...She enables me to be successful." Another faculty member summarizes Glinda's work in this way: "With Glinda, it is not just about balancing the books, it is about helping people and ensuring that they are well taken care of and secure in their lives. That is a tremendous responsibility and she goes out of her way to identify potential issues well in advance to make sure that everything works out for our academic ‘family’."

Glinda's outstanding work previously earned her the staff award in 2000.