In April we launched our first call for grant applications. This opportunity was to help award grant funds for planetary science graduate students to use for travel expenses to present their research.

In June we reviewed all of the applicants and were thrilled to award 11 students with travel grants.

As an update, we want to share the example of an experience of one of our winning students.

Ingrid Daubar is a PhD student at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona. Her research projects include morphology and statistics of small recent craters on Mars and the Moon; implications for current cratering rates, planetary chronologies, target material properties, and exploration hazards. Previously, she was a member of the HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment; www.uahirise.org) operations team for nine years. She earned a degree in Astronomy from Cornell University, and originally hails from East Lyme, Connecticut, where the high school planetarium first inspired her to study and explore space.

Daubar added, “Attending the annual Meteoritical Society meeting was a great experience, both for the scientific and cultural exposure. I was able to share my research with prominent scientists in the fields of impact cratering, meteoritics, and solar system chronology. Together we explored Casablanca and learned about its history, traditional art, food, and music. I am grateful to Uwingu for making this trip possible.”

Project Focus: We found over 400 new impact sites on Mars using before-and-after images to narrow down their formation dates to within a few months to years. These very recent (in some cases only a few days old!) and very small (10-100 feet across) craters allow us to measure the current cratering rate at Mars. This is important in order to calibrate the system of dating surfaces on other planets that scientists use throughout the Solar System.

Meeting Abstract: http://pirlwww.lpl.arizona.edu/~ingrid/pirl/newmartiancraters/Daubar_MetSoc2014_abstract_final.pdf

PDF to Presentation Slides: http://pirlwww.lpl.arizona.edu/~ingrid/pirl/newmartiancraters/Daubar_talk_MetSoc2014.pdf

To learn more, answer question or to contact Ingrid directly, visit her website: http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~ingrid/