Spring

Congratulations to Juan M. Lora, recipient of the 2014 Gerard P. Kuiper Memorial Award.

Juan Lora earned his B.S. in Astronomy (magna cum laude) from the University of Southern California in 2009. His research objective as a graduate student at LPL has been to understand the dynamics and history of Titan’s atmosphere, the only other body in our solar system with an active “hydrological” cycle, and to develop the necessary tools for understanding the atmospheres of extra-solar, potentially “Earth-like” planets. By using his adaptation of an ‘Earth-centric’ coupled general circulation model for application to Titan, he efficiently achieved the necessary code modifications and now has a working model of the Titan atmosphere. His simulations will allow an integrated assessment of the diverse observations of Titan, ranging from the polar methane lakes to the longitudinal dunes seen at low latitudes.

As a graduate student in the Department of Planetary Sciences, Lora has already achieved excellence with his research into the patterns of insolation and the seasonal variability of cloudiness and temperature throughout Titan’s troposphere. His analysis of Titan’s troposphere is both insightful and creative and was recently published in Icarus (Lora et al., 2011). This paper clearly shows that previous modeling efforts employed unphysical parameterizations of the insolation and that the conclusions drawn from those simulations about Titan’s wind and temperature profiles are likely erroneous. Lora’s most recent work, exploring the orbitally-forced variability of the lake locations on Titan using a modern general circulation model, clearly shows his increased expertise and technical skill, even considering the already high level of achievement present in his early work.

Lora is the recipient of a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) for 2012-2014. He will defend his dissertation on "Radiation and Dynamics in Titan's Atmosphere: Investigations of Titan's Present and Past Climate" in 2014. Associate Professor Joellen Russell is Lora's advisor.

Dr. Christopher Hamilton joined LPL this spring as an Assistant Professor. Christopher is a planetary volcanologist with an interest in field-based analogs for geologic surface processes on terrestrial planets and satellites. He comes to LPL after three years at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Planetary Geodynamics Laboratory where he worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow investigating active lava flow emplacement in Hawaii, flood lava volcanism on Mars, and tidal heating processes within Jupiter's moon Io. He earned his Ph.D. in Geology and Geophysics at the University of Hawaii researching lava–water interactions on Earth and Mars, with a focus on ice-contact volcanism in Iceland. He has also worked on volcanically triggered floods in New Zealand, volcanic successions in the Canadian Arctic, and impacts into volatile-bearing martian substrates. Christopher's research employs a combination of field observations, planetary mapping, geospatial analysis, and thermodynamic modeling. At LPL, he will continue to develop these research themes to study volcanism and aqueous floods on Earth and Mars, as well as explore new opportunities in terrestrial analog studies using unmanned aerial vehicles, machine learning systems, and industrial-scale simulation of lava and impact melt flows using metallurgical smelting techniques.

The OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission, under the direction of Principal Investigator Dante Lauretta, continues to make steady progress. On December 9, the public countdown clocks for the mission were turned on. On that day, the time until the start of the September 2016 launch window dropped to 999 days, and the countdown began.

In early April, the mission passed its Critical Design Review (CDR), a major milestone for a spacecraft program: OSIRIS REx Closer to Probing the Universe.

OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to bring back at least 60 grams of material from the primitive asteroid Bennu in 2023.

Elisabetta Rigliaco joined LPL in September 2011, working as a post-doctoral fellow on the evolution and dispersal of protoplanetary disks around young stars with Dr. Ilaria Pascucci. Her current research primarily focuses on understanding how protoplanetary disks evolve and disperse, leading to the formation of planets. In particular she focuses on the observational analysis of the mechanisms involved in the dispersion of protoplanetary disks around young stars.

Elisabetta is from southern Italy. She studied at the University of Bologna where she earned a B.S. in Astronomy, and a M.S. in Astrophysics and Cosmology (2007) with a thesis on radio-galaxies. Elisabetta earned her Ph.D. in 2011 from the University of Florence conducting research on accretion and ejection properties of young low-mass stars. In her spare time, Elisabetta enjoys running, cooking and spending time with friends.

Staff Scientist Eric Christensen is Director of the Catalina Sky Survey for near-Earth objects. He returned to LPL in 2012 after a 5-year stay in Chile at the Gemini South Observatory, where he was part of the science operations group responsible for daytime and nighttime operations of the telescope and instruments. Prior to moving to Chile, he worked as an observer and software developer for CSS for four years. In addition to near-Earth asteroid discovery and follow-up, Eric's interests include survey modeling and optimization, observatory operations, instrument commissioning, and efficient software design. He found many similarities between asteroid surveying and meteorite hunting during multiple expeditions to the Atacama Desert, which resulted in the recovery of several achondrites and carbonaceous chondrites, as well as many ordinary chondrites. Eric holds a BFA from the University of Arizona, with a concentration in ceramic sculpture.

This year, the Department of Planetary Sciences/Lunar and Planetary Laboratory was proud to recognize and award three graduate students for their efforts toward service and outreach, which includes attention to broader impacts and involvement in activities outside of academic responsibilities that benefit the department, university and the larger community:

In addition to being the departmental nominee, Melissa was also nominated for the college-wide outreach award.

Thanks to Melissa, James, and Jamie for their outstanding efforts in presenting science to a broader audience in 2014!

Melissa Dykhuis

James Keane

Jamie Molaro

LPL’s Ali Bramson won the award for Outstanding Teaching at the 7th Annual College of Science Graduate Student Awards. Ali was recognized for her work in developing a year-long seminar course called “Entering Research (LASC 397A).” The course, which Ali taught this year, introduces undergraduates to all facets of the research endeavor.

In addition to the award for teaching that Ali won, the College of Science gives out awards to graduate students for Outstanding Scholarship and Outstanding Service and Outreach. Juan Lora and Melissa Dykhuis were LPL’s nominees for the latter two awards.

The award was announced at a reception held on April 16, sponsored by the College of Science and the Associate Graduate Council for the College of Science (AGCCS). Ali’s award marks the third consecutive year that an LPL graduate student has won one of the three awards. Given that our graduate students are competing against excellent students from 11 other departments, having a winner three years in a row speaks to the excellence of the graduate students we have.

Congratulations, Ali!

Congratulations to PTYS undergraduate minor Cassandra Lejoly. For Spring 2014, Cassandra was named Outstanding Senior for the Department of Astronomy. Cassandra presented her research at the Astronomy Department's Graduating Astronomy Major Research Symposium on April 24. Her abstract is provided below. In the fall, Cassandra will be attending Northern Arizona University as a graduate student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Cassandra Lejoly. I will present the periods of repeatability of individual coma features in Comet 1P/Halley measured using the position angle at different spatial distances from the nucleus in consequent cycles. I found that separate features appear to have different periods of repeatability within the same images, perhaps depending on the corresponding source regions on the nucleus. The periods of repeatability of coma morphologies will be presented as a function of time from the perihelion. I will also discuss the current work being done on the outflow velocities of the dust as well as the comprehensive modeling of the comet’s features.

 

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