Edgar Steenstra of the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, was presented the first Planetary Science Institute 2015 Pierazzo International Student Travel Award at the 46th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in the Woodlands, Texas. Steenstra received a certificate and check for $2,000 for a non-U.S.-based graduate student traveling to a planetary meeting in the U.S. His research subject is core formation in Vesta and the Moon.
The Pierazzo International Student Travel Award was established by PSI in memory of Senior Scientist Betty Pierazzo to support and encourage graduate students to build international collaborations and relationships in planetary science.
Betty Pierazzo was an expert in the area of impact modeling throughout the solar system, as well as an expert on the astrobiological and environmental effects of impacts on Earth and Mars. In addition to her research, she was passionate about education, teaching and public outreach, developing planetary-related classroom materials, professional development workshops for teachers, and teaching college-level classes herself. Betty believed in the strength of broad collaborations in all of her research and education activities. This award memorializes the scope of how she lived her life and the good she sought to bring to our profession and communities.
The second 2015 award will go to Caroline Morley (UCSC) at Planetary Systems: A Synergistic View in Quy Nhon, Vietnam. Above, PSI’s Mark Sykes presents the certificate and check to Steenstra at LPSC.
