NAI Ames Team Scientists Receive Honors

June 4, 2008 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice

Three of our distinguished colleagues have just become even more so! Please join NAI in congratulating Dave Des Marais, Jack Lissauer, and Lou Allamandola on their continued achievements!

David Des Marais has been elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in recognition of his contributions to biogeochemistry and astrobiology. This designation (election as Fellow) is conferred upon not more than 0.1 percent of all AGU members in any given year. The recently-elected fellows will be recognized at the 2008 Joint Assembly of AGU held May 27-30 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Jack Lissauer received the 2007 Chambliss Astronomical Writing Award from the American Astronomical Society for their advanced astronomy textbook, “Planetary Sciences.” The award is given for “astronomy writing for an academic audience, specifically textbooks at either the upper division undergraduate level or the graduate level.”

Lou Allamandola has been ranked among the top living chemists based on his research accomplishments. Living chemists have been ranked in a league table based on what some argue is the fairest measure of research achievement ever devised. The chemists were ranked by h-index, a number invented by physicist Jorge Hirsch in 2005 to measure research impact. Allamandola’s h-index is 53, ranking him among the top 430 chemists in the world.