The University of New Mexico
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences & Institute of Meteoritics

Presents the
3rd annual Stuart a. Northrop
Distinguished lecturer:

Dr. Meenakshi Wadhwa
Arizona State University

Meenakshi Wadhwa is a researcher and educator interested in the time scales and processes involved in the formation and evolution of the Solar System. Her research group is best known for developing novel methodologies for high precision isotope analyses and application of high resolution chronometers for constraining the time scales of processes in the early Solar System (particularly accretion and differentiation of planetesimals and the terrestrial planets). Other areas of her research focus include 1) the sources and distributions of extinct radionuclides (such as 26Al and 60Fe) in the solar nebula; 2) the formation and evolution of crust-mantle reservoirs on Earth, Moon and Mars; and 3) the abundance and origin of water and other volatiles on rocky bodies in the Solar System. Wadhwa received her doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis, and was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California at San Diego and then curator at the Field Museum in Chicago before moving to Arizona State University in 2006. She is currently Director of the Center for Meteorite Studies and Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at ASU. She is a recipient of the Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award (2015), the Guggenheim Fellowship (2005) and the Nier Prize of the Meteoritical Society (2000). Asteroid 8356 has been named 8356 Wadhwa in recognition of her contributions to meteoritics and planetary science.

Reception to follow in silver family geology museum.

Read the full Lecture Flyer