The Nininger Meteorite Award recognizes outstanding student achievement in the meteoritical sciences as embodied by an original research paper. Papers must cover original research conducted by the student and must have been written, submitted, or published between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2024.
Applicants must be the first, but not sole, author of the paper and must have been enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree program at an educational institution in the United States at the time the paper was written, submitted, or published.
The Nininger Award recipient receives $2,000 and an engraved plaque commemorating the honor.
Recipients will present their paper in an online seminar hosted by the Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies.
Applications will be considered by an independent review panel of field experts.
Nininger Meteorite Award application form
History of the Award
Permitted topics
The original text of the Nininger endowment states that the “Science of Meteoritics embraces all aspects of the study of inert natural matter existing in space, passing through the atmosphere, or having come to Earth from space, together with any or all of the phenomena occasioned by its fall and its effect upon the Earth or upon any other member of the Solar System. Such science shall also be considered to include theoretical consideration as to the origin of such matter and special relationships”. Research topics covered under this description include, but are not limited to, physical and chemical properties of meteorites, origin of meteoritic material and cratering. Observational, experimental, statistical or theoretical investigations are allowed.
Eligibility Requirements
- Applicants must have been enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree program at an educational institution in the United States at the time the paper was written, submitted, or published. Overseas students visiting US institutions who are not enrolled at that institution are not eligible.
- The student must be first author of the paper, but does not have to be the sole author.
- Paper must cover original research conducted by the student, and have been written, submitted or published between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2024.
Application
2021-22 Nininger Meteorite Award Winners
We are pleased to announce that Zoë Wilbur, a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Arizona is the recipient of the 2021-22 Nininger Meteorite Award, and Cauê Borlina, a Blaustein Postdoctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins University received an Honorable Mention for the award.
Zoë’s paper “The effects of highly reduced magmatism revealed through aubrites” investigates the petrogenesis of aubrite meteorites and assesses their relevance as analogues to the planet Mercury.
In the absence of known samples from Mercury, we must study the most reduced samples in our meteorite collection to better understand reduced magmatic bodies in our Solar System. The aubrite meteorites are thought to have formed in the innermost region of the protoplanetary disk and formed from parent bodies of uniquely low oxygen fugacities.
The aubrites are sometimes called enstatite achondrites due to their nearly monomineralic nature. Despite their highly FeO-free, enstatitic composition, aubrites contain a variety of exotic sulfides, and many of these sulfides contain moderately volatile cations that typically exhibit lithophile behavior in oxidized systems (i.e., Ca, Na, and K) acting as chalcophile elements, which is a product of their reducing conditions of formation. Elemental partitioning among metals, sulfides, and silicates is poorly constrained at such low oxygen fugacities, and studying aubrites provides evidence of the effects of reducing conditions on elemental behavior.
This comprehensive study combines petrography, geochemistry, oxygen isotopic measurements, and X-ray computed tomography to unravel the petrologic histories of fourteen aubrite meteorites. Calculations of elemental partitioning in the natural aubrite samples shows that the geochemical behavior of elements is similar to elemental behavior determined experimentally for magmatic systems on Mercury. The partition coefficients show that Mn-, Ca-, Cr-, and Ti-bearing sulfides are likely to be phases present in reduced planetary systems.
Ultimately, the aubrites represent valuable petrologic analogues to the planet Mercury and other highly reduced systems in our Solar System. Read the full paper, here!
Cauê’s paper, “Paleomagnetic measurements of chondrules suggest that a gap existed in the early solar system” investigates isotopic dichotomy observed in chondrite meteorites.
