Northern Arizona University professor David Trilling, chair of the Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, is one of the leaders of a major new project funded through a $900,000 grant from the Heising-Simons Foundation. The project’s goal is to increase the readiness of astronomy researchers from minority communities for an upcoming effort designed to lay the groundwork for the launch of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.
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As a first-year student at NAU, Megan Gialluca walked into astronomy professor Ty Robinson’s office, introduced herself and told him she was interested in doing research with him.
Four years later, she’s leaving NAU as a Goldwater Scholar and with three years of funding for a Ph.D. in hand as a recipient of the NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) award.
Gialluca graduated in April with a degree in astronomy and has spent… Read more
NASA has selected Northern Arizona University assistant research professor Alicia Rutledge as one of only five early-career scientists in the country to receive funding through its Planetary Science Early Career Award (ECA) program, which “supports outstanding early-career individuals and allows them to play an increasing role in the planetary science community.”
Rutledge’s proposal, “Ice, Ice, Rock: Analog Studies in Cold Environments to Understand Past Climate,” which was selected for an award of… Read more
On Feb. 18, the world watched as the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover landed on Mars and started exploring Earth’s closest neighbor. For scientists who have spent their lives researching the Red Planet, the seven-minute descent from the top of the Martian atmosphere to the safe landing on the surface was a stomach-churning combination of fear, nerves, hope and exhilaration.
NAU News spoke to researchers out of the Department of Astronomy and… Read more
Congratulations to graduating senior, Dominick Ryan (Astronomy, Chemistry,Music) on being named a recipient of NAU’s Gold Axe Award, and being named as the Standard Bearer for the College of the Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences!
The tradition of the Gold Axe Award dates back to 1933, a year after the student body adopted the… Read more
Three of the six are from our NSF GRFP proposal development course (AST599). Congratulations to Andy Lopez-Oquendo (APS PhD Student), Megan Gialluca (undergrad Phys/Astro), and Ethan Taber (SES).
Congratulations also go to Ty Robinson, who once again taught his Fellowship Proposal Writing class” (AST599) in the fall 2020 semester, and who is developing a very long list of successful proposals that have come out of that class over the past few years. Ty reports that the success rate was… Read more