People

Researchers

Dr. William Grundy

Dr. Grundy designed and built many of the laboratory's systems for producing and studying samples of low temperature materials. Dr. Grundy uses the laboratory to study the behavior of such materials under conditions relevant to the cold outer solar system. In addition to laboratory experiments, he also studies icy outer solar system bodies using telescopes, theoretical models, and through direct exploration using robotic spacecraft. Dr. Grundy is a co-investigator on NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper belt, and Lucy mission to Jupiter's Trojan asteroids.

Email: w.grundy (at) lowell.edu

Dr. Stephen Tegler

Dr. Tegler is a Professor in the Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science at NAU. He combines laboratory experiments and ground-based telescope observations of Triton, Pluto, and Kuiper belt objects to better understand the origin and evolution of the outer Solar System. In addition, Dr. Tegler uses laboratory experiments to study the resilience of pre-biotic molecules in the young Solar System to irradiation. Such work has implications for the origin and evolution of life on Earth.

Email: stephen.tegler (at) nau.edu

Dr. Jennifer Hanley

Dr. Hanley is a tenure-track Astronomer at Lowell Observatory and Adjunct Faculty at Northern Arizona University (NAU). Current projects include simulating the surface pressure, temperature and composition of Titan to understand how methane, ethane, and nitrogen interact with one another, measuring the stability of cryogenic ices with relevance to outer solar system bodies, and studying salts on Mars and Europa with respect to the stability of liquid water and habitability. She collaborates with other NAU researchers to model chemical interactions of exotic ices, study volatiles and health hazards to astronauts from asteroids, and utilize a Mars chamber for regolith experiments.

Email: jhanley (at) lowell.edu

Dr. Gerrick Lindberg

Dr. Lindberg is an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Physics & Materials Science and the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at NAU. He is interested in the development and application of theoretical models to understand the behavior of molecules in condensed phase systems. In particular, his group makes frequent use of molecular dynamics simulations to understand molecular behavior and predict the observed properties of various systems relevant for the outer solar system.

Lindberg Research Group Website

Email: gerrick.lindberg (at) nau.edu

Current Students

Cecilia Thieberger

4th Year PhD Candidate

Cece is part of the Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science. She is studying Titan through a combination of laboratory experiments, ground-based telescope observations, and computational modeling. In the lab, Cece studies the effects of trace species on Titan’s lakes and seas. With her observations using the Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT), she is working to constrain methane abundances on Titan, which will be used to develop her atmospheric modeling project. Cece received her B.A. from Cornell University in 2021, where she worked on the Europa Clipper mission and studied the geomorphology of Pluto through photometric modeling.

Personal Website

Email: clt357 (at) nau.edu

Ana Morgan

3rd Year PhD Candidate

Ana is part of the Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science. She has joined the lab as a PhD Research Rotation Student and is studying spectra of ices that may be present on bodies that reside in the outer solar system. Her primary research focuses on exploring their size and color distributions of TNOs with Dr. David Trilling. She received her undergraduate degree from CU Boulder where she researched TNOs utilizing stellar occultation with the citizen science project RECON.

Email: anm744 (at) nau.edu

Collaborators

Dr. Sugata Tan

Planetary Science Institute

Dr. Tan is developing an equation of state (CRYOCHEM 2.0) for vapor/liquid/solid phases at cryogenic conditions with applications for phase equilibria on Titan (atmosphere, atmospheric condensates, lake liquids, subsurface alkanofer), Pluto (atmosphere, surface ices), and other planetary bodies.

ORCID

Dr. Jordan Steckloff

Planetary Science Institute

Dr. Steckloff received his PhD in computational physics from Purdue University in 2015. As a planetary scientist, he uses theory and numerical models to study geophysical surface processes and their effects of the structure, activity, dynamics, and exospheres of planetary bodies. His current research includes studying (1) the dynamics of Titan’s lakes and their interaction with Titan’s atmosphere; (2) exospheric dynamics on nominally airless bodies; (3) effects of phase changes on cryogenic materials in the outer system; (4) the formation and evolution of “snowfields” on comets; (5) the effects of impacts between comets on their volatile content; and (6) sublimation-driven orbital evolution of small exoplanets.

ORCID

Dr. David Trilling

Northern Arizona University, Dept. of Astronomy and Planetary Science

Dr. Trilling uses telescopes to understand the formation and evolution of the Solar System and its constituents. This work complements the experimental and computational work done by others in the Astrophysical Materials Lab. Together, this three-faceted approach allows powerful probes of the compositions of bodies in the outer Solar System.

Dr. Mark Loeffler

Northern Arizona University, Dept. of Astronomy and Planetary Science

Dr. Loeffler focuses his research on using laboratory experiments to investigate radiation and thermal processes that alter solid materials ranging from condensed gases to terrestrial minerals. Typically, these materials are directly relevant to extraterrestrial environments, such as asteroids, comets, or icy satellites, such as those orbiting Saturn and Jupiter. To probe these samples in a vacuum environment, he utilizes a variety of experimental techniques, such as ultraviolet to infrared spectroscopy, microbalance gravimetry, and mass spectrometry. His research spans a variety of scientific disciplines, such as physics, chemistry, materials science, and geology.

PEAXS Website

Dr. Paul Jagodzinski

Northern Arizona University, Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Dr. Randy Dillingham

Emeritis, Northern Arizona University, Dept. of Applied Physics and Materials Science

Drs. Dillingham and David Cornelison (now at Missouri State University) were the original designers and builders of the Astrophysical Materials Laboratory. Dr. Dillingham uses x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to study the chemical composition of the upper molecular layers of astrophysical ice samples.

Previous Students

Shae Raposa

PhD Astronomy and Planetary Science Graduated 2025

Shae's dissertation work used a combination of Raman spectroscopy and modeling to map the phase diagrams of the carbon monoxide+nitrogen, carbon monoxide+methane, and nitrogen+methane systems, with the goal to fill in knowledge gaps of these systems and consider implications for Pluto's surface and subsurface.

Anna Engle

PhD Astronomy and Planetary Science Graduated 2024
NSF REU Summer Student, 2017

Anna's dissertation work focused on using Raman spectroscopy to investigate the phases and phase transitions of the methane-ethane, ethane-nitrogen, methane-ethane-nitrogen, and methane-ethane-propane-nitrogen systems with applications to Titan's surface and near subsurface geochemistry.

Personal Website

Wilnelia Barea-Carrión

NSF REU Summer Student, 2024

Wilnelia studied how quantities of >10% propane affects the methane–ethane–nitrogen system at pressures above 3 bar at Titan relevant temperatures.

Kendall Koga

Undergrad Research Assistant, 2021-2022
Research Project Manager, 2022-2024

Kendall worked on a prototype for a field-portable goniometer system for use in measuring directional reflectance properties of planetary surface materials. They are now an MSc student in the Dept. of Earth & Space Science at York University.

BP Blakley

NSF REU Summer Student, 2023

BP used the quartz crystal microbalance to record vapor pressures of volatile species that are relevant to many outer solar system bodies. They are now a PhD student at Johns Hopkins University working with Dr. Sarah Hörst.

Aiden Madden-Watson

NASA Space Grant Student, 2022-2023

Aiden helped calibrate the thin-film system and then used it to record optical constants of ices that are relevant to the outer solar system. He is now a PhD student in the NAU Dept. of Astronomy and Planetary Science working with Dr. Cristina Thomas on NEO characterization and main belt asteroid spectroscopy.

Moises Gomez

NASA Space Grant Student, 2022-2023

Alex Jasko

NSF REU Summer Student, 2022

Alex helped with getting the thin-film system back up and running after the lab moved to a new space, and also contributed to improving the thin-film system so as to determine the densities of the ices grown.

Jason Libby

NASA Space Grant Student, 2020-2021
HURA Student, 2021-2022

Jason graduated with a BS in Informatics with an emphasis in bioinformatics in 2022. His work in the lab involved simulating eutectic phase behavior on Pluto.

Henry Dawson

NSF REU Summer Student, 2021

Henry worked on optical constants in thin-film ices. He is now a PhD student at Washington University.

Alex Rosenthal

NSF REU Summer Student, 2021

Alex's work focused on using molecular dynamics simulations to determine what happens when Titan-relevant molecules are placed in the methane-ethane-nitrogen system.

Ava Chard

NASA Space Grant Student, 2019-2020

Ava worked with the lab through a collaboration with the NAU Dept. of Chemistry & Biochemistry.

Shy Dustrud

MS Chemistry
Graduated 2019

Shy's worked with the lab through a collaboration with the NAU Dept. of Chemistry & Biochemistry. Her masters thesis work combined molecular dynamics simulations and experiments to better understand molecular systems that are relevant to Titan and Pluto.

Ben Wing

NSF REU Summer Student, 2019

Ben aided in the set up of an optical bench for the lab, which allows for concurrent use the Raman FTIR spectrometers, and also ran experiments that involved adding propane to mixtures relevant to Titan's lakes.

Jessica Groven

NSF REU Summer Student, 2018

Jessica was a key component in collecting and analyzing data relevant to the two-liquid system in the methane-ethane-nitrogen system.

Garrett Thompson

MS Applied Physics
Graduated 2017

Garrett now a Program Manager at Amazon.

Rachel Huchmala

MS Chemistry
Graduated 2018
Space Grant Student, 2017-2018

As an undergraduate, Rachel worked with the lab through a collaboration with the NAU Dept. of Chemistry & Biochemistry. She went on to study at University of Washington and received her PhD in Theoretical Chemistry in 2023. Rachel is currently a postdoc research fellow at Boise State University.

Logan Pearce

NSF REU Summer Student, 2016

Logan received her PhD in Astronomy from University of Arizona in 2024.

Fatima Alketbi

NSF REU Summer Student, 2016

Terry Stufflebeam

MS Applied Physics
Graduated 2016

Nathan Hendler

NSF REU Summer Student, 2014

Nathan is currently a postdoctoral research associate with the School of Plant Sciences (yes, plant, not planet) at University of Arizona.

Justin Bergonio

NSF REU Summer Student, 2013

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