Rhonda Stroud (Director, Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies; Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration) – Dr. Stroud’s research portfolio blends materials physics, planetary science and electron microscopy to address the origin and properties of materials ranging from nanodiamond stardust to quasicrystals, to aerogel nanocomposites. She is currently participating in the JAXA Hayabusa2 Initial Analysis of returned samples from asteroid Ryugu, and the NASA Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis examination of lunar soils. Past mission experience includes the Stardust Mission Participating Scientist, and Interstellar Preliminary Examination Foils Team lead. In addition to Fellowship in the Meteoritical Society, Microscopy Society of America, Microanalysis Society and American Physical Society, Stroud served as President of the Microanalysis Society from 2018 to 2020, and on the Small Bodies sub-panel of the 2023-2032 NAS Planetary Science Decadal Survey.
Devin L. Schrader (Deputy Director, Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies; Associate Research Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration) Ph. D. University of Arizona (2012) – Dr. Schrader’s research interests concern primitive astromaterials that remain unaltered since their formation in the early Solar System and meteorites that were thermally and aqueously altered on their parent asteroids. He primarily studies carbonaceous chondrites, ordinary chondrites and Hayabusa particles from asteroid Itokawa, but has worked on a range of extraterrestrial materials. His research aims to characterize primitive early Solar System material, determine its variability between meteorite groups, and understand its evolution. Dr. Schrader utilizes petrographic, chemical, isotopic, and thermodynamic data to constrain the pre-accretionary formation conditions and secondary thermal and aqueous alteration processes of small bodies in the early Solar System. He achieves this by analyzing the chemical and physical properties of primitive carbonaceous chondrites, including the Renazzo-like (CR), Mighei-like (CM), Ornans-like (CO), Vigarano-like (CV), and Ivuna-like (CI) carbonaceous chondrites. He also studies ordinary chondrites, and has worked on Rumuruti-like (R) chondrites, primitive achondrites, and iron meteorites. Dr. Schrader’s research utilizes advanced sample preparation techniques, such as focused-ion-beam (FIB) lift-out and ultramicrotomy, alongside traditional optical microscopy and state-of-the-art techniques and equipment, including secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), field emission electron probe microanalysis (FE-EPMA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). He also provides sample science support for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission as a Science Team Member.
Laurence A. J. Garvie (Collection Curator, Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies; Research Professor, School of Earth & Space Exploration) Ph. D. University of Bristol (1992) – Dr. Garvie deciphers early Solar System processes through the use of innovative, high-spatial-resolution electron microscopic and spectroscopic studies of meteorites. His studies primarily focus on carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, which provide a unique record of the physical and chemical processes that shaped our Solar System. His current projects are roughly divided between mineralogical studies designed to reveal the structure and formation conditions of the abundant phyllosilicates in the CI and CM chondrites, and studies of the structure, distribution and formation conditions of organics in the carbonaceous chondrites. He also leads projects designed to understand the chemistry and mineralogy of rock surface coatings, with particular emphasis on the laminated, Mn-rich coatings of arid terrestrial environments. Dr. Garvie serves as an Associate Editor for American Mineralogist. Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now.
Amy J. G. Jurewicz (Emeritus Assistant Research Professor, Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies and School of Earth & Space Exploration) Ph. D. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1986) – Dr. Jurewicz’s research currently focuses on the recovery and analysis of the GENESIS solar-wind collector materials. Solar wind is a direct analog of the early solar nebula, so from its composition we will glean insight into how our Solar System formed. Genesis is a NASA mission which collected solar-wind sample for two years, prior to a hard landing in Utah during the return to Earth. Before Genesis, Dr. Jurewicz’s research included work on a number of NASA missions, as well as the fabrication of meteorite analogs for the purpose of determining how one meteorite could be formed from another through natural, early Solar System processes.
Rebekah Hines (Research Professional, Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies and Clean Laboratory Manager, School of Earth & Space Exploration) M. Sc. University of Saskatchewan (2001) – With over 20 years of experience in the conservation and management of natural history collections, as well as educational outreach programming, Hines serves a multidisciplinary role in the Center, where she has undertaken a diversity of projects including development and implementation of museum exhibits and loanable education modules, construction of relational collection databases, design of state-of-the-art natural history collection housing and consequent collection relocation, content development for education and outreach programming, and website administration. In addition, she manages cleanroom operations and students in the School of Earth and Space Exploration’s Class 1,000 Isotope Cosmochemistry and Geochronology Laboratory.
Imène Kerraouch (Postdoctoral Research Scholar) Ph. D. Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (2022) – Imène studies formational processes in primitive chondrites and the early Solar System. She is currently examining samples returned by JAXA‘s Hayabusa2 mission from the C-type asteroid, Ryugu.
Ren Marquez (BCMS Meteorite Studies Postdoctoral Fellow) Ph.D. California Institute of Technology (2024) – Ren has extensive experience in ultra-low-blank laboratory techniques for analyzing small meteorite samples, which he employs to study presolar precursors in primitive meteoritic components. Ren’s current focus is to extend his work on presolar signatures to understand how these phases affect heterogeneity in bulk Solar System objects.
