New and exciting activities in the
McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences
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Recent News From McDonnell Center Fellows
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WashU partners with St. Louis to expand CLEAN STL tornado recovery project
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WashU is formally partnering with St. Louis to expand environmental monitoring and public health research in city neighborhoods affected by the devastating May 16, 2025, tornado.
The project draws on a breadth of WashU expertise, including environmental geochemist Jeff Catalano.
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Trevor GrandPre wins Scientific American’s inaugural Young Scientist Award
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Trevor GrandPre, an assistant professor of physics, is an inaugural recipient of Scientific American’s Young Scientist Award. The award, announced in the June 2026 issue of the magazine, is open to early-career scientists based in the United States and was created to recognize “the next great superstars in science, technology, and medicine.”
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David Fike Inducted as AAAS Fellow
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MCSS Fellow David Fike traveled to Washington, D.C., at the end of May for the induction ceremony recognizing the newest fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
The May 29 ceremony celebrated scientists, engineers, and innovators whose work has made significant contributions to their fields.
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Live from Alaska - NOVA PBS
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EEPS grad student Zoe Schlossnagle was interviewed by NOVA producer Caitlin Saks in a livestream from the Taku Glacier in Alaska. She is currently in the field conducting research for Assistant Professor Dougal Hansen's glaciology group.
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ADAPT Undergoes Thermal-Vacuum Testing at CSBF
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ADAPT (Antarctic Demonstrator for the Advanced Particle-Astrophyics Telescope) team members pose with the ADAPT gondola at the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) in Palestine, Texas. The payload includes the Italian Anticoincidence Detector (ACD) and the WashU AIRIS satellite. Lower photos show the ADAPT detector going into the thermal-vacuum chamber for environmental testing before deployment to Antarctica.
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ADAPT team members at CSBF (left to right): Matthew Fowlerfinn, Brian Rauch, Mario Nicola Mazziotta (INFN Bari), Blake Bal, Marco Cecca (University of Bari), Richard Bose, Malee Alway, Marion Sudvarg, James Buckley, Sophie Fendler, and Oliver Yeaman.
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Recent Publications by McDonnell Center Fellows
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Smith, L. R., Haenecour, P., Neuman, M., Wang, K., Koefoed, P., Ogliore, R., et al. (2026). Presolar stardust in the ungrouped chondrite Chwichiya 002. Meteoritics and Planetary Science.
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| Planetary Thermal Emission in the Age of Roman
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St. Louis Astronomical Society June Meeting
Zifan Lin
McDonnell Postdoctoral Fellow, WashU
Friday, July 17
7:30pm, McDonnell 162
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Compiled and edited by Alison Verbeck. Please send any contributions to alison@wustl.edu.
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