2022
April
04.22.2022
I successfully defended my doctoral dissertation, titled “Exploring the Solar System through Space and Time via Laboratory Investigations of Extraterrestrial Material”, and submitted all degree requirements to the Graduate School. My examination committee (Professor Ryan C. Ogliore, Professor Erik A. Henriksen, Professor Katharina Lodders, Professor Johanna Nagy, and Professor Kun Wang) was absolutely fantastic, helpful, and supportive—I am incredibly grateful to them for their guidance and mentorship. If you are interested, a video of my defense can be found at this link (Note: The video, unfortunately, starts about five minutes into the talk). A public link to my dissertation will be added once the embargo expires and the version-of-record is publicly available.
2021
July
07.27.2021
Our space weathering paper, “Detecting Sub-Micron Space Weathering Effects in Lunar Grains with Synchrotron Infrared Nanospectroscopy,” was accepted for publication in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets! The reviewers’ comments were incredibly helpful and only strengthened the manuscript. If you have trouble accessing the published version, a freely-available preprint version can be found here.
2020
July
07.23.2020
Our space weathering paper, “Spatially-Resolved Mid-Infrared Spectral Evidence of Space Weathering,” was submitted to the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. A preprint version of the submitted paper can be found here.
March
03.05.2020
LPSC LI was canceled due to the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
February
02.23.2020
I submitted my proposal for NASA’s Future Investigations in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology fellowship. (Update: This proposal was unsuccessful.)
January
01.15.2020
We submitted our abstract, titled “Diverse O Isotopic Compositions of Vapor-Phase Condensates in a Likely-Cometary IDP” (#2618), to the 51st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC LI). As is traditional for LPSC abstracts, our summary is formatted as a haiku. It reads: “Whiskers and ribbons / A range of O isotopes / In one IDP”. The conference is scheduled for mid-March. (Update: LPSC LI was canceled due to the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.)
2019
July
07.23.2019
Our paper detailing our investigation of a filamentary enstatite grain from a GC-IDP of likely cometary origin, titled “Oxygen isotopic composition of an enstatite ribbon of probable cometary origin,” was published in Meteoritics & Planetary Science. If you have trouble accessing the published version, a freely-available preprint version can be found here.
07.18.2019
Our work on space weathering was covered in an article titled “Old rocks, new science: Why Apollo 11 samples are still as relevant as ever”. The Source
March
03.20.2019
I was able to present our work on space weathering in lunar plagioclase grains (from soil 79221 collected during Apollo 17) at the 50th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, TX. Since it was the 50th anniversary of the Apollo missions, there were a number of very interesting events graciously organized by LPI/USRA. What is always a fantastic conference was even better this year!
03.12.2019
I’m back at the ALS for some follow-up SINS work. This time, I’m looking at space-weathering in lunar pyroxenes from the Apollo 11 contingency sample.
2018
September
09.12.2018
Thanks to our successful proposal for ALS beamtime, we were able to use Synchrotron Infrared Nano Spectroscopy (SINS) to investigate space weathering in mature lunar plagioclase grains collected from the lunar highlands as part of the Apollo 17 mission.
May
05.30.2018
I passed my qualifying exams, becoming a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Physics at Washington University in St. Louis. A summary of my presentation can be found under the Documents tab.
05.10.2018
Our proposal for beamtime with the Advanced Light Source (ALS) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory was approved.
2017
May
05.15.2017
I started working with Professor Ogliore in the Laboratory for Space Sciences.
2016
August
08.29.2016
I enrolled at Washington University in St. Louis as a graduate student in the Department of Physics. Department of Physics Directory
May
05.13.2016
I graduated Cum Laude from the University of Arkansas with an Honors Bachelor of Science in Physics and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics.
January
01.05.2016
Our abstract was accepted for presentation at 2016 APS March Meeting in Baltimore, MD. Abstract Schedule
2015
September
09.25.2015
Team Studies Light-Induced Oxidation of Two-Dimensional Black Phosphorus. Arkansas Newswire
09.14.2015
Phosphorene: Overcoming the Oxidation Barrier — Can phosphorene deliver on its promise of graphene-level utility? Understanding how and why it oxidizes, as Utt et al. demonstrate, is a key part of the equation. A. Carvalho and A.H. Castro Neto. ACS Cent. Sci. 1, 289-291 (2015)
May
05.08.2015
Team Develops New Method to Map Phosphorene, 2-Dimensional Materials. Arkansas Newswire