INSIDE EAPS Newsletter for the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University's College of Science

‘Tiger team’ of 6 scientists has 72 hours to get first look at samples from Bennu

To study the planets, someone has to go there: Either a human or a bot launches into space to physically explore other worlds. Scientists who study extraterrestrial materials can’t usually bring their work home. That’s exactly what’s happened, though, as NASA’s OSIRIS-REx project brought home pieces of the asteroid Bennu. The culmination of more than a decade of work by a team of thousands, samples of the asteroid landed Sept. 24 in the Utah desert and were whisked off to a clean lab at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. There, Michelle Thompson, associate professor of earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences in Purdue’s College of Science, is one of the first six lead investigators from the science team — and the first woman — to study the samples. To protect the sample from contaminants, only the six scientists, clad in bunny suits, gloves, hoods, shoe covers and hair covers, are allowed in the room with the sample.

Purdue announces new Dean of the College of Science: Lucy Flesch of Purdue EAPS!

Following a national search, Lucy Flesch has been selected the next Frederick L. Hovde Dean of the College of Science. She succeeds Patrick Wolfe, who was appointed in January as Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Diversity. Jean Chmielewski, the Alice Watson Kramer Distinguished Professor of Chemistry in the College of Science, served as interim dean.

Airplane-based research by Purdue scientists detects unprecedented levels of alloy aerosols in the atmosphere

The Space Age is leaving fingerprints on one of the most remote parts of the planet — the stratosphere — which has potential implications for climate, the ozone layer and the continued habitability of Earth. Using tools hitched to the nose cone of their research planes and sampling more than 11 miles above the planet’s surface, researchers have discovered significant amounts of metals in aerosols in the atmosphere, likely from increasingly frequent launches and returns of spacecraft and satellites. That mass of metal is changing atmospheric chemistry in ways that may impact Earth’s atmosphere and ozone layer.

NSF award creates new center to study subduction earthquakes and associated hazards

It is of vital importance to understand how earthquakes work, which is why the National Science Foundation (NSF) has recently announced a $15 million grant to support the creation of the Cascadia Region Earthquake Science Center (CRESCENT). This center will be devoted to understanding earthquake and earthquake-related hazards along the subduction margin of the Pacific Northwest in the United States. The CRESCENT headquarters is located within the University of Oregon but includes scientists from 14 universities across the United States, the US Geological Survey, the Earthscope NSF Facility, along with various stakeholders and policy makers in the Pacific Northwest region. Dr. Jonathan Delph, of Purdue University’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, will be a senior member of the “Cascadia Velocity Model.”

Climate research by Matthew Huber making world news

Research on surging heat from Matthew Huber is making news around the world. His research warns that if the Earth’s temperatures rise only one degree Celsius over current measurements, each year countless individuals will experience unbearable heat and humidity levels that will render their bodies incapable of cooling themselves. Huber is a Purdue EAPS professor and the David E. Ross Director of the Purdue Institute for a Sustainable Future.

Below is a sample of the headlines stemming from Huber's research:

• Unbearable heat could make some parts of the world uninhabitable if warming continues, earth.com
• The Midwest US could be a hotspot for deadly ‘moist heat stress’ as global temperatures climb, CNN
• Study: Climate change to drive temperatures too hot for humans, Axios
• Deadly humid heat could hit billions, spread as far as US Midwest, study says, Reuters
• These are the places that could become ‘unlivable’ as the Earth warms, Washington Post
• Climate change could expose up to 2.2 billion people in India and the Indus Valley: PNAS study, The Times of India

Huber will be a panelist for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine's "The Dynamics of Climate and the Macroeconomy: A Workshop," November 1st, 2023.

Growing clouds in a lab to study the science of far-away skies

Alexandria Johnson does hard science on the most nebulous of subjects: clouds. As an atmospheric scientist and assistant professor in Purdue University’s College of Science, she studies clouds wherever they are: in her lab, on Earth, throughout the solar system and into the galaxy. “The coolest thing about my research is that I can see clouds every day,” Johnson said. “I can look up into our own atmosphere and watch them change and evolve. Then I can take that knowledge and apply it to other planetary bodies, both within and outside our solar system.”

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

Faculty/Staff

• Professor Andrew Freed inducted into the Book of Great Teachers
• Professor Marissa Tremblay awarded the Antarctica Service Medal
• Daniel Cziczo, professor and head of Purdue EAPS, named a 2023 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) International Excellence Fellow
• Professor Laura Pyrak-Nolte awarded Dean's Award for Achievement from University at Buffalo
• Professor Nat Lifton awarded the Kirk Bryan Award – Geological Society of America, Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology Division, 2023, as co-author on a paper with a high impact on the field (Pendleton et al., 2019. Nature Communications 10(1), 445-452. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-08307-w).
• Professor Matthew Huber appointed the David E. Ross Director of the Purdue Institute for a Sustainable Future.
• Professor Mike Sori received the NASA Planetary Science Early Career Award
• Professor Darryl Granger awarded the Karst Waters Institute Award

• Professor Ali Bramson awarded College of Science Faculty Awardee for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Teaching by an Assistant Professor

Students

• Mariana Blanco-Rojas, PhD student, awarded a John Mather Nobel Scholar award
• Addison Curtis, MS student, awarded the David M. Knox Fellowship
• Moshammat Mijjum, PhD student, honored with these awards: Robert D. Hevey, Jr. and Constance M. Filling Fellowship in Mineral Sciences from the Smithsonian Institution, Indiana Space Grant Consortium Graduate Fellowship, Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) Scholar, and Geochronology Gordon Research Conference Travel Award.
• Riley McGlasson, PhD student, awarded an Amelia Earhart Fellowship and NASA FINESST Fellowship
• Erin E Donaghy, PhD candidate, awarded AWG Brunton Award and the AGI Harriet Evelyn Wallace Scholarship
• Alexander Kling, PhD student, received the Indiana Space Grant Consortium Graduate Fellowship and Lunar and Planetary Institute Career Development Award
• Hunter Vannier, PhD student, received the Indiana Space Grant Consortium Graduate Fellowship
• Zhaoyu Liu, PhD student, received the NASA FINESST award
• Santa Pérez Cortés, PhD student, awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, Always Soñando National Scholarship, and the Underrepresented Minority Communities in Planetary Science Travel Grant
• Kris Laferriere, PhD student, awarded the Lunar and Planetary Institute Career Development Award
• Stephanie Menten, PhD student, awarded the Lunar and Planetary Institute Career Development Award
• Sara Cuevas Quiñones, undergraduate student, awarded the Dwornik Award for Best Undergraduate Oral Presentation at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference and the Underrepresented Minority Communities in Planetary Science Travel Grant
• Disha Okhai, PhD student, awarded the Association for Women Geoscientists Takken Travel Award and EAPS Science Leadership Fellow
• Aaron Kruskie, PhD student, received the Outstanding Student Poster award at the Sep 2023 Midwest Student Climate and Atmospheric Research (MSCAR) conference

NASA Group Achievement Awards (2021-22 - awards delayed due to Covid)

• SuperCam Development Team: Clement Royer, Stephanie Connell, Roger Wiens
• Mastcam-Z Development Team: Brad Garczynski, Briony Horgan
• SHERLOC Development Team: Roger Wiens
• Mars 2020 Pre-landing Strategic Science Group: Garczynski, Briony Horgan, Roger Wiens
• Mars 2020 Science Team: Stephanie Connell, Brad Garczynski, Henry Manelski, Clement Royer, Briony Horgan, Roger Wiens
• Mastcam-Z Science & Operations: Brad Garczynski, Briony Horgan
• SuperCam Science & Operations: Clement Royer, Stephanie Connell, Henry Manelski, Roger Wiens
• SHERLOC Science & Operations: Roger Wiens
• Mars 2020 Atmosphere Team: Stephanie Connell, Roger Wiens

K-12 OUTREACH

Calling STEM Professionals!

The world of STEM is vast and exciting, but many students are unaware of the opportunities it offers. Educators strive to integrate practical college and career readiness skills into their teaching. To bridge this gap, Purdue University College of Science K-12 Outreach is in the process of building an extensive STEM Career Repository.

Your Expertise Counts

We're inviting you to contribute your expertise by creating a short 2-3 minute video. This video will introduce students and teachers to the captivating work you do as a STEM professional. Your insights can illuminate potential career paths, fostering curiosity and enthusiasm among young minds.

SUPERHEROES OF SCIENCE

Superheroes of Science began as an audio podcast that interviewed science experts. Today it has expanded into a YouTube platform with a wide array of science content for educators and science enthusiasts around the globe. If you enjoy listening to podcasts and learning about STEM topics from experts in the field, Purdue Superheroes of Science is the podcast for you! Today the YouTube channel has had over 150K views and 1.5k subscribers. Perusing the channel, one will find the video versions of our podcast interviewing STEM experts, videos of science demonstrations, virtual science labs, as well as a variety of student learning programs such as Kids' STEM Degree.

Our K-12 Outreach program also collaborates with community partners to offer numerous programs for teachers and students.

• On Apple: https://bit.ly/SOS_apple
• On Spotify: https://bit.ly/SOS_spotify
• On Amazon: https://bit.ly/Superheroes_amazon

Graduate Students took over our EAPS instagram for Hispanic Heritage Month

During Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 through October 15, 2023), graduate students Giovanni Bacon, Lisette Elena Melendez, and Santa Lucía Pérez-Cortés (left to right) took over the Purdue Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Instagram and posted on Twitter/X to share their experiences with what it's like to be Hispanic at Purdue and highlight some of our Hispanic students. Boiler up!

REAL TIME DATA BROUGHT TO YOU BY PURDUE EAPS

XTRRA Radar

A low power X-band radar, installed on the roof of Wang Hall, provides a detailed and local view of winds and precipitation in the lower atmosphere. The Purdue campus is about 60 miles from the nearest National Weather Service radar, and due to the curvature of the earth, that radar’s lowest beam is more than one kilometer above our heads. This radar provides a tool for targeting that observation gap. XTRRA was conceptualized by a team of atmospheric scientists at Purdue, and the primary investigator of the project is Dr. Robin Tanamachi. XTRRA now boasts a four year archive of near-continuous observations. View XTRRA here.

Purdue-managed Seismic Stations

The Purdue University Seismic Center maintains multiple broadband seismometers and this data is available to the public near real-time as it updates every five minutes. These instruments were adopted from the USArray Experiment, and have been integrated into the Central and Eastern US Network, a regional long-term seismic monitoring network. See feeds from these instruments here.