Spring

Ali Bramson and Kelly Miller have been announced as recipients of funds from the 2015 Curson Travel Scholarship.

Ali is a fourth-year graduate student working with Associate Professor Shane Byrne. She plans to use the funds to support participation in a two-week summer field campaign in Iceland, followed by the fall 2015 HiRISE camera team meeting to be held in Lake Myvatn, Iceland. The field work is part of a Terrestrial Analogs for Planetary Surfaces campaign intended to fulfill science objectives of Assistant Professor Christopher Hamilton's NASA Planetary Geology and Geophysics grant.

Kellly Miller is a fifth-year graduate student advised by Professor Dante Lauretta. Her Curson award will help to fund travel to the Solar System Origins Gordon Research Conference (GRC), to be held June 28 to July 3, at Mount Holyoke College. The topic of the GRC, which is intended as a scientific conference with limited participation, is "The Physics and Chemistry of Building Planets: Recent Advances and Future Prospects." Kelly will present a poster and work with colleagues in the planetary formation community.

We'll report on the summer travel and research in the LPL Fall Newsletter!

Congratulations to Sarah Sutton, recipient of this year's LPL Appointed Personnel Staff Excellence Award, and to Eneida Guerra de Lima, recipient of the 2015 Classified Staff Excellence Award!

Sarah Sutton is a Photogrammetry and Image Processing Scientist with the HiRISE project. She began working for Alfred McEwen as a student in 2006 and moved into a staff position in 2008. The group she leads, which includes 4 undergraduate students, produces digital terrain models (DTMs) from HiRISE, LROC, and CTX images. The nomination letters for Sarah cite many notable contributions, including:

• development of methods to correct geometric distortions of images (produced by spacecraft pointing jitter), which not only improve DTMs and orthoimages, but are also valuable and applicable to other scientific studies and to certifying landing sites;
• volunteering to support special studies, proposal preparation, and educational and outreach activities;
• implementing innovations and automations that increase DTM production;
• exceeding job expectations by providing service such as training LPL graduate students in production and analysis of DTMs.

Eneida Guerra de Lima joined LPL in October 2013 as an Information Technology Support Analyst, Principal, and immediately began making positive changes and contributions to LPL, improving the quality and effectiveness of IT services, identifying weaknesses and making recommendations and improvements. Eneida brought to LPL her expertise and previous experience with UA computing resources such as UAConnect and Outlook, and desktop support. Some specific examples of Eneida's superior performance include:

• identifying weakness in data security for business operations, and making suggestions for updating and consolidated LPL services;
• making time to multitask and resolve routine problems while carrying on other responsibilities of a more technical nature;
• providing excellent customer support, being available, responsive, and communicative, providing follow-up service and detailed inquiry, with results that often apply to other users/areas;
• taking on setup and networking of new copiers, including working with users to understand needs and working with the vendor to install and implement required software and networking, allowing the department to get full functionality from the machines;
• advising and supporting academic AV enterprises, resulting in improvements to videoconferencing, and to classroom projection and computing.

Sarah and Eneida received their kudos at the LPL Spring Awards reception, held on April 22. Also acknowledged at the reception were Kenny Fine (Senior Systems Administrator with PIRL/HiRISE) and Maria Schuchardt (Program Coordinator, Senior with the Space Imagery Center). Kenny and Maria each received an Honorable Mention in the Appointed (Fine) and Classified (Schuchardt) categories; Maria is a previous recipient of the Staff Excellence Award (2005). As the classified staff recipient, Eneida's contributions were also acknowledged by Dean Joaquin Ruiz at the annual College of Science Staff Excellence Awards Luncheon held on April 15.

Congratulations Sarah and Eneida, and Kenny and Maria, and thank you for all you do!

Congratulations to James Tuttle Keane, recipient of the 2015 Gerard P. Kuiper Memorial Award.

James Keane is a fourth-year graduate student advised by Assistant Professor Isamu Matsuyama. He graduated from the University of Maryland (College Park) in 2011 with B.Sc. degrees in Astronomy (with High Honors) and Geology (with Honors). Keane's research interests include the formation and evolution of solar system planets, planetary satellites, and small bodies, with an emphasis on the interactions between rotational/orbital dynamics and geologic processes of terrestrial and icy bodies.

Keane was awarded a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) for 2013-2016, for research on "Stability of Asteroid Regolith during Planetary Close Approaches." He is the recipient of several other awards, including a 2014 Outstanding Student Paper Award from the American Geophysical Union (fall meeting) for "The Contribution of Impact Basins and Mascons to the Lunar Figure: Evidence for Lunar True Polar Wander, and a Past Low-Eccentricity, Synchronous Lunar Orbit." Keane was also awarded a 2014 Galileo Circle Scholarship from the University of Arizona's College of Science.

In 2014, Keane was first author on two journal articles:

• Keane, J. T., Matsuyama, I. (2014). Evidence for lunar true polar wander and a past low-eccentricity synchronous lunar orbit. Geophysical Research Letters 41:6610
• Keane, J. T., Pascucci, I., Espaillat, C., Woitke, P., Andrews, S., Kamp, I., Thi, W. F., Meeus, G., Dent, W. R. F. (2014). Evidence for Disk Flattening or Gas Depletion in Transitional Disks. Astrophysical Journal 787:152.

In addition to his studies and research, Keane has been actively involved with planetary science outreach in Tucson and at LPL, including serving as a volunteer for OSIRIS-REx, Tucson Festival of Books, and LPL special events. He volunteers, too, at the Pima Air and Space Museum; works as a counselor for UA Astronomy Camp; and serves as a writer and artist for 321 Science! Keane is also one of two co-organizers responsible for developing and organizing The Art of Planetary Science at LPL.

Keane plans to defend his dissertation in 2016.

The citation for the Kuiper Award reads: "This award is presented to students of the planetary sciences who best exemplify, through the high quality of their researches and the excellence of their scholastic achievements, the goals and standards established and maintained by Gerard P. Kuiper, founder of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and the Department of Planetary Sciences at the University of Arizona."

Melissa Dykhuis	Catherine Elder
Patrick Harner	Youngmin JeongAhn
Huan Meng	Rob Zellem

Congratulations to Melissa Dykhuis, Catherine Elder, Patrick Harner, Youngmin JeongAhn, Huan Meng, and Rob Zellem, LPL's most recent graduates!

On November 21, 2014, Huan Meng defended his Ph.D. dissertation titled, "Planet Formation in the Terrestrial Zone." Huan's advisor was Regents' Professor George Rieke. Huan Meng is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate working with Professor Rieke at Steward Observatory.

Melissa Dykhuis defended her Ph.D. dissertation on March 13, 2015. Her advisor was Professor Richard Greenberg and her dissertation was titled, "Asteroid Family Dynamics in the Inner Main Belt."

Catherine Elder defended on April 7, 2015. The Ph.D. dissertation is titled, "The Effects of Melt on Impact Craters on Icy Satellites and on the Dynamics of Io's Interior." Catherine was advised by Professor Adam Showman. She is set to begin a Postdoctoral Fellowship with Dr. Paul Hayne at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Patrick Harner's defense of his M.S. thesis took place on May 5, 2015. The thesis is titled, "Carbonates and Other Salts in the Atacama Desert and on Mars, and the Implications for the Role of Life in Carbonate Formation." Partick's advisor was Regents' Professor Victor Baker.

Youngmin JeohngAhn defended on May 1, 2015. He was advised by Professor Renu Malhotra. His dissertation is titled, "Orbital Distribution of Minor Planets in the Inner Solar System and Their Impact Flux on the Moon, Earth and Mars."

Rob Zellem's defense of his dissertation titled, "Observing Transiting Exoplanets: Removing Systematic Errors to Constrain Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics" was on April 29, 2015. His advisor was Professor Caitlin Griffith. Rob is moving on to JPL as well, with a postdoctoral appointment with Dr. Mark Swain.

The Michael J. Drake Building, home to the OSIRIS-REx mission, is the canvas for a colorful new mural celebrating that mission. The beautiful work of art is located on the building's west wall, just around the corner from the mural that commemorates the PHOENIX Mars Lander mission. The OSIRIS-REx mural was created by University of Arizona art students as part of a mural painting class taught by Professor Alfred Quiroz of the School of Art. The project was funded by the LPL External Advisory Board.

Learn more about the mural and watch a time lapse video of the painting process, see To an Asteroid and Back, All from the Parking Lot.

Congratulations to LPL's 2015 Galileo Circle Scholarship recipients: Melissa Dykhuis, Youngmin JeongAhn, Tad Komacek, Margaret Landis, Xianyu Tan, Michelle Thompson, and Rob Zellem. Galileo Circle Scholarships are awarded to the University of Arizona's finest science students and represent the tremendous breadth of research interests in the College of Science.

Galileo Circle Scholars receive $1,000 each; these awards are supported through the generous donations of Galileo Circle members. The Galileo Scholars were honored at an early evening reception held on April 9, 2015.

Congratulations to all our 2015 Galileo Scholars!

Sarah Peacock is the recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award for Fall 2014. Sarah earned the award for her work as a GTA with Dr. Steven Kortenkamp in the PTYS/ASTR 206 course. She is a second-year graduate student working with Associate Professor Travis Barman.

The students that Sarah worked with nominated her as deserving for going "above and beyond," communicating enthusiasm for course content as well as for her own research, and crediting her with their success in the course. Dr. Kortenkamp cites a special challenge for Sarah and her fellow PTYS 206 GTA: having to learn and operate the new full-dome digital projection system at Flandrau, where the course is taught. When not under the Flandrau dome, Sarah  proctored regular evening observing sessions, held bi-weekly one-on-one tutoring sessions and group help sessions, and organized a special project that connected the undergraduate students with the LPL Art of Planetary Science exhibition by encouraging students to submit pieces to the show for extra credit. Sarah believes "that the show was a great way to make planetary science more accessible" to the students.

Recipients of the Outstanding GTA Award receive funds of up to $1,000 to support travel to a professional meeting of their choice.