December 2024 Newsletter

Dear Meteoritical Society Members,
This last monthly email newsletter for 2024 is also my last as President. It has truly been an honor and a joy to serve in this role for our society for the last two years. I started this role often saying how I considered the Meteoritical Society to be my scientific family, and I end this role even more grateful and appreciative to be a member of this impressive and supportive community.

Here are a few announcements for December 2024:

• Renew Your MetSoc Membership for 2025 – Membership renewals are now open for 2025. Visit this page to renew, and more details can be found here. Student membership is only $10 and early career membership is $40.

• Volunteer to Staff the AGU Booth – The Meteoritical Society will have a booth at AGU in Washington, DC from December 9-12. Thank you to Tom Burbine for leading this effort, and contact him to sign up for 1-hour shift or for any specific questions: tburbine@mtholyoke.edu

• Endowment Grant Deadline is 15 January, 2025 – The Meteoritical Society offers both Community Grants, to further the goals of the Meteoritical Society, and Research Grants, to support early career and student members. Visit the website for details on how to apply.

• Nominations Are Open for 2025 Awards – Nominate a deserving colleague for a MetSoc award! Nominations are due February 15, 2025, for the Leonard Medal, Barringer Award, Nier Prize, and Service Award. Pellas-Ryder Award nominations are due January 31, 2025. Visit the Awards page of the website for details.

• In Memoriam – We appreciate members who helped provide this remembrance for Horton Newsom, who died earlier this year.

• Research Grant Reports – Read the latest reports from projects supported by Meteoritical Society Research Grants:

  • From Mayssa Daldoul, Faculty of Sciences Tunisia, on: Morphological study of five recent Martian craters

  • From Marian Selorm Sapah, University of Ghana, on: Investigating quartz grains from a potentially buried impact structure

  • From Ran Zhao, University of Bayreuth, on: Meteoroid impacts on the Moon during late accretion

• Ed Scott Lecture Series – View the recording of the lecture given by Don Brownlee on the Diverse Rocky Materials that Formed Comets a few weeks ago, and mark your calendar for these next lectures:

  • 23 January, 2025, 20:00 UTC Motoo Ito on Hayabusa2 Discoveries

  • 19 February, 2025, 20:00 UTC Martin Lee on Insights from CM Chondrites

• Thank You to Outgoing Council Members! – We sincerely appreciate those who have served on Council for our society who are ending their terms. Thank you for giving your time and effort for our community in these roles! The 2025 Council is listed here.

  • Henner Busemann – Councilor 2021–2024

  • Sarah Crowther – Councilor 2021–2024

  • Denton Ebel– Councilor 2021–2024

  • Ann Nguyen – Councilor 2021–2024

  • Tasha Dunn – Treasurer, 2019–2024

  • Brigitte Zanda – Vice President, President, Past President, 2019–2024

COMMUNITY SUBMITTED ANNOUNCEMENTS

ExMAG Public Meeting - Dec 2 2024

ExMAG will hold an open meeting on Monday December 2, at 11 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada). The agenda will include annual reports by the ExMAG subcommittees.

Join via Zoom:https://purdue-edu.zoom.us/j/98182674125?pwd=7jFTUaJ2sWM7Fd0Z1tzhPNr13oKmhi.1 Meeting ID: 981 8267 4125 Passcode: EXMAG

ExMAG Membership Open for 2025

ExMAG is seeking applications for open positions starting in 2025. Open positions include Lunar Subcommittee Chair, IDEA Cross-AG Working Group Member, Meteorite Subcommittee Member and At-Large Member. Details are available here.

Applications should be made online by December 6, 2024 at
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdPUdju5GEqCVbQrTd6FosJyLO5P6HI5QUor2jBx2CApjm90Q/viewform?usp=sharing

Applications consist of a maximum two-page CV, optional demographic information, and short statements describing your interest and qualifications to the following criteria (all answers will be normalized to the Applicant’s career stage):

• Understanding of the ExMAG position (don’t hesitate to email exmag.community@gmail.com to discuss!)

• Ability and desire to conduct ExMAG analysis and activities

• Organizational and leadership potential / experience applicable to ExMAG position

Please submit a separate application to each position for which you wish to be considered. We do not keep applications from prior years so please reapply if you’re still interested in serving!

Release of In Search of Falling Stars, Dr. H. H. Nininger's complete autobiography
The family of Dr. H. H. Nininger announces the publication of Dr. Nininger’s complete autobiography as he originally intended it to be. This new volume, entitled In Search of Falling Stars, was released on November 12, 2024.

In Search of Falling Stars traces Nininger’s life from his childhood in the 1890s and 1900s on the frontier in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri, through the invention of the automobile and the airplane, to men walking on the Moon. During his life, Nininger, co-founder of The Meteoritical Society, took the study of meteorites from an interesting hobby to a mainstream science. He has been called the Father of Modern Meteoritics. Dr. Nininger built the world’s largest private meteorite collection, and investigated the role of meteorite impacts in the evolution of the Earth and Moon and of life on Earth. On the way, he provided insight to those designing rockets. Nininger provided a major meteorite collection to the Natural History Museum, London, and the majority of his collection forms the core of the meteorite collection at the Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University. This book tells how it all happened. See https://insearchoffallingstars.com/ for more information or to order.

Submitted by: Gary Huss

Job Announcement:
Open Rank Tenure Track Professorship in Earth and Planetary Materials at the University of New Mexico
The Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS) and the Institute of Meteoritics (IOM) at the University of New Mexico invites applications for an Open Rank tenure track faculty position (full, associate, assistant) in the field of Earth and Planetary Materials to begin in August 2025. This is a full-time, Open Rank professorship focusing on the petrology or mineral physics of the Earth and/or other planets. Applicants must have a PhD in Geoscience, Planetary Science, or a related field by date of appointment. For best consideration, all application materials must be received by December 16, 2024.

For details see this link: https://unm.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/18/home/requisition/31368?c=unm

If you have any questions contact Search Co-chairs Carl Agee (agee@unm.edu) or Tobias Fischer (fischer@unm.edu).

Share your announcements with MetSoc members – Submission guidelines and other details are given on the society's website.

Thank you for being a part of the Meteoritical Society, and please feel free to reach out to us at any time.
Nancy Chabot, Meteoritical Society President, metsocpres@gmail.com
Jutta Zipfel, Meteoritical Society Secretary, metsocsec@gmail.com
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