Two University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa scientists and a former postdoctoral fellow were honored at the 81st annual meeting of the Meteoritical Society, an international organization devoted to studies of meteorites and planetary science. The society was founded in 1933 and has more than 1,000 members from 52 countries.
Alexander Krot
Planetary scientist Alexander “Sasha” Krot was awarded the Leonard Medal for outstanding contributions to the science of meteoritics and closely allied fields.
The research professor in the Hawaiʻi Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology studies meteorites and cosmochemistry, with a focus on processes that took place before and while the planets were forming.
Linda Martel
Linda Martel, who provides academic support in HIGP, has won the Meteoritical Society’s Service Award. It is bestowed on members who have advanced the goals of the society to promote research and education in meteoritics and planetary science in ways other than by conducting scientific research.
Martel was recognized for her central role in creating Planetary Science Research Discoveries, an educational website that informs the public about what meteoriticists do.
Lydia Hallis
Lydia Hallis, faculty member at Glasgow University in Scotland, was awarded the society’s Nier Prize, which recognizes outstanding research in meteoritics and allied fields by young (under age 35) scientists.
Hallis was a postdoctoral researcher in HIGP and the UH Institute for Astronomy from 2010 to 2014, and still collaborates with UH faculty members. Her research includes studies of lunar rocks, meteorites from Mars, the role of water in altering the Martian surface and on how Earth received its water.
For more information, see the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology’s website.
—By Marcie Grabowski
