Feb. 1, 2024, Tucson, Ariz. – Five Planetary Science Institute scientists and educators have been named 2024 American Astronomical Society Fellows. The AAS, a major international organization of professional astronomers, astronomy educators, and amateur astronomers, is honoring 21 members for extraordinary achievement and service by naming them AAS Fellows — an honor bestowed on less than 0.5% of AAS’s membership each year.
The AAS Fellows program was established in 2019 to recognize AAS members for their contributions toward the Society’s mission of enhancing and sharing humanity’s scientific understanding of the universe. Fellows may be cited for original research and publication, innovative contributions to astronomical techniques or instrumentation, significant contributions to education and public outreach, and noteworthy service to astronomy and to the Society itself.
PSI’s JA Grier, Amanda Hendrix, Larry Lebofsky, Robert M. Nelson and Grace Wolf-Chase were named 2024 Fellows.
AAS cited Grier (ee/em/eir) for “over two decades of commitment to advancing accessibility, inclusion, and diversity within the scientific community, and for important advances in planetary sciences, particularly in the area of lunar optical maturity effects.”
Grier has made substantial contributions to the astronomical community through science research, education/outreach, and diversity/inclusion. Grier has served as Education Officer for the DPS, Education Director for the AAS, and Lead for the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Focus Group for NASA SSERVI, working towards building capacity to address diversity and inclusion concerns in space exploration via innovative, collaborative initiatives from all areas of the field including research science, education, ethics, social science, social justice, industry, science-communication, and engineering. Grier’s research has focused on impact craters in the Solar System, including early work analyzing radar returns from Venus and doing geochemical studies for age dating of terrestrial impact structures. This latter study led to investigations of age dating of rayed lunar craters via multispectral studies of their optical maturity, a pioneering effort that remains the key resource for this topic. Grier’s research has also focused on EDIA issues and the practical question of how best to make the astronomical sciences welcoming and accessible to all. Grier’s early pioneering work in multiple settings coordinating interactions between scientists, educators, and NASA has resulted in robust vectors for space scientists to be trained and work in education and outreach and was pivotal in changing both attitudes and capacity for scientists to engage in education and outreach activities.
Hendrix was cited for “wide-ranging studies illuminating thermal, irradiative, and exogenic processing of various species on small body surfaces in the solar system; management of complex autonomous science systems; and devoted service to the planetary and space science communities.”
Hendrix studies moons and small bodies in the Solar System. She uses primarily ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy to consider effects of surface processing from geologic, thermal and space weathering processes, and to search for and study plumes and thin atmosphere and their interactions with the surface. Hendrix served as the Deputy Project Scientist for the Cassini-Huygens mission at Saturn and is a science team member on the Cassini, Galileo, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Europa Clipper missions. She is the Principal Investigator of NASA’s Toolbox for Research and Exploration and has led and participated in numerous Hubble Space Telescope observation programs and NASA research proposals. Hendrix is the Editor-in-Chief at Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, the Chair of NASA’s Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG), the co-chair of the National Academies Committee on Planetary Protection and is a former Chair of the AAS Division for Planetary Sciences.
AAS cited Lebofsky for “pioneering research in small body astrometry and spectroscopy, service to the astronomical community, and a long history of dedication to education and public engagement, particularly with adult trainers of the Girl Scouts of the USA through the JWST/NIRCam’s education program.”
Lebofsky is a Senior Education and Communication Specialist at PSI. Prior to joining PSI in 2008, he was a Senior Research Scientist at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory and Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. He has been on the boards and served as an officer on many national and international science and education organizations including the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society (DPS), the Arizona Science Teachers Association, the International Meteorite Collectors Association, and the Southern Arizona Research, Science, and Engineering Foundation. He is presently on the Board of Directors of the Vatican Observatory Foundation, specifically involved in their education outreach efforts. The Small Bodies Nomenclature Committee of the IAU named an asteroid, 3439 Lebofsky, in recognition of his contributions to planetary sciences. In 2000 he received the Carl Sagan Medal of the DPS excellence in public communication in planetary sciences.
Nelson was cited for “key contributions to the Voyager and Cassini missions, ground-breaking studies of the opposition effect and laboratory work on the microscopic properties of planetary regoliths, leadership in the scientific community, public advocacy for science, and staunch defense of the privacy rights of scientists.”
Robert M. Nelson has spent his entire career engaged in scientific research sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in support of NASA’s overarching goal to peacefully explore and understand the Solar System and the universe beyond. NASA selected him as a science team member of the great deep space exploration missions that marked our transition to the 21st century, particularly the Voyager mission to explore the Solar System and the Cassini Saturn Orbiter mission. Nelson held leadership roles within American Astronomical Society including his service as Press Officer and as Chair of AAS’s largest division – its Division for Planetary Sciences. Asteroid #6812 has been given the name ‘Robertnelson’ by the International Astronomical Union. After Nelson earned a doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh, he became National Research Council Resident Research Associate at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. He continued his laboratory research at JPL for three decades becoming a Senior Research Scientist. His interest in using his scientific skills to address social problems inspired him to pursue application of geoengineering techniques to mitigate climate change at the Georgetown School of Applied Intelligence. Nelson joined PSI in 2014 as a Senior Scientist.
And AAS cited Wolf-Chase for “outstanding and sustained work to bring the wonders of astronomical research to the general public, especially to diverse religious communities; and for significant investigations into bipolar molecular outflows within star-forming regions through multi-wavelength observations and analyses.”
Wolf-Chase said the central focus of her career, motivated by the desire to pay forward the critical role informal education played in her love of science, has been bridging the worlds of academic research and public education. She has placed a particular emphasis on bringing the wonders of astronomy to diverse religious communities. She considers her most significant impact to be at the intersection of science and religion, where she has played leading roles in both academic discussions and public outreach for more than 20 years through many publications, service on advisory boards, and scientific presentations to diverse communities of faith. Her research likewise bridges academic work in astronomy and planetary science through studying conditions in the environments that give birth to diverse stellar and planetary systems. This work currently includes contributions from citizen scientists who have identified stellar nurseries known as “yellowballs” that are helping Wolf-Chase and her colleagues discern the conditions that lead to the formation of stars that will eventually become supernovae, enriching the environments of nearby nascent planetary systems with the heavy elements necessary for life.
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The Planetary Science Institute is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation dedicated to Solar System exploration. It is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, where it was founded in 1972.
PSI scientists are involved in numerous NASA and international missions, the study of Mars and other planets, the Moon, asteroids, comets, interplanetary dust, impact physics, the origin of the Solar System, extra-solar planet formation, dynamics, the rise of life, and other areas of research. They conduct fieldwork on all continents around the world. They also are actively involved in science education and public outreach through school programs, children’s books, popular science books and art.
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