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- NAU/NASA Space Grant AIMER Program coordinator Mary Lara earned the Arizona Educational Foundation’s 2025 Carolyn Warner Legacy Award, which honors outstanding public educators. The foundation recognized Lara for the astronomy projects and initiatives she spearheaded throughout her 50 years in the field.
- Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science (APS) professor Christopher Edwards and APS alumnus Aaron Weintraub co-authored the paper “Global survey of paleo-bedforms on Mars,” published in the journal Geomorphology. The study uses data from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera to classify the characteristics of preserved ancient geological features on Mars’ surface.
- Former postdoctoral researcher Aurélien Stcherbinine and Edwards aand co-authored an article analyzing the accuracy of Martian cloud optical depth measurements in the journal Icarus.
- Doctoral student Lucas McClure, professor Josh Emery, associate professor Cristina Thomas and alum Riley Williams, all with APS, authored the article “Size-Based Spectrophotometric Analysis of the Polana-Eulalia Complex” in Icarus. The study looks at how the size of asteroids in the Polana-Eulalia Complex belt affects their spectral slopes.
- APS associate professor Chad Trujillo co-authored the paper “New Moons of Uranus and Neptune from Ultra-Deep Pencil Beam Surveys,” published in the Astronomical Journal. The study details the discovery of one new moon orbiting Uranus and two moons orbiting Neptune based on three years of satellite imaging.
- APS graduate research assistant Ryder Strauss was the first author of a paper detailing the discovery of three superfast rotators, or solar system objects that rotate faster than expected, in the DECam Ecliptic Exploration Project (DEEP) data set. The study’s authors also include APS Chair David Trilling, postdoctoral scholar Will Oldroyd, Trujillo and APS alumni Andrew McNeill, Cesar Fuentes, Michael Mommert and Colin Chandler.
- Ariel Roddy, assistant professor for the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, received the Feminist Criminology Best Article of the Year award. Her winning article uses the experiences of 60 women transitioning from jail contexts and substance abuse treatment to the workforce to identify employment roadblocks impacting those in similar situations.