SPE TRA

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION ( FALL 2002

New Horizons for Science

INSIDE

[PAGE 7] [PAGE 11] The Living Planet— The Carnegie Institution of Washington Geophysical Laboratory Centennial Symposium 3 Global Ecology Is Born! 3 In the News 4 Attention-Getting Conference at Carnegie 4 Reaching Out at the Observatories 5 Active Black Holes in Galaxy Cluster Bring into Question How Clusters Evolve 7 Carnegie Keeps Architects Busy 7 First Beam: HPCAT Gets Closer to Science with Innovations Galore 8 Diamonds Are Much More Than Just Pretty Gemstones 10 Read All About It 10 Postdoc Profile: Embryology’s Rachel Brewster 11 In Brief 12 Progress on , [PAGE 8] MIKE, and IMACS 16

• • • • • • • DEPARTMENT DEPARTMENT DEPARTMENT THE GEOPHYSICAL DEPARTMENT CASE/ OF PLANT OF TERRESTRIAL OF EMBRYOLOGY OBSERVATORIES LABORATORY OF GLOBAL FIRST LIGHT BIOLOGY MAGNETISM ECOLOGY 2)

DISCIPLINE: Important in Science and Investing

A decade ago, the trustees embarked on a new course for managing the Carnegie endowment. And I’m happy to report that the strategy has proved to be highly successful, particularly during this time of market volatility. In 1992, the finance committee decided to allocate the endowment portfolio among three broad asset classes: alternative assets such as real estate and energy investments, do- mestic and international stocks, and fixed income and cash. The major component to our strategy, spearheaded by David Swensen, the chairman of the finance com- mittee, is a relatively large allocation to alternative assets. The result of this approach is that over the past five years the Carnegie endowment has grown by 10.3% ver- sus an average growth of 6.1% at similar institutions. Our success continued through the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002. During that period, similar endow- Carnegie Institution ments declined by 4% on average, while the Carnegie endowment grew by 3.1%. of Washington The key to our healthy financial situation has been sound decision making 1530 P Street, NW and discipline. When markets behave erratically, the temptation is to chase gains. Washington, D.C. 20005 -1910 But the Carnegie trustees stayed firmly on track, and this discipline has paid off. 202.387.6400 We have also been disciplined spenders and cost conscious in other ways. www.CarnegieInstitution.org Through the efforts of Carnegie president and the department di- rectors, we continue to maintain our goal of keeping endowment spending below President 5% of the endowment’s value. A decade of successful fund-raising activities, Maxine F. Singer orchestrated by Director of External Affairs Susanne Garvey, has also brought Director, Department of Plant Biology money into the institution and raised our public profile. Christopher Somerville Because of these fiscal strengths, Carnegie’s long-term debt rating was Director, raised by Moody’s to a triple A status—a rating level achieved by only some 20 Department of Terrestrial Magnetism Sean C. Solomon other institutions in the country. This status, in turn, will help us keep down the

Director, costs of financing the construction of Embryology’s new Maxine F. Singer Department of Embryology Building in Baltimore. Allan C. Spradling The scientific staff has also contributed to our fiscal health. Many re- Director, The Observatories, searchers have been very successful in obtaining grants and initiating collabora- Crawford H. Greenewalt Chair tions with outside organizations, which pool collective resources. Others have Augustus Oemler, Jr. come up with ingenious and cost-efficient ways to design instrumentation. Director, Geophysical Laboratory As we all know, first-rate science requires first-rate facilities. The fiscal re- Wesley T. Huntress, Jr. sponsibility of everyone in the institution has helped us sustain and improve Director, these essential resources. And this helps us achieve our ultimate goal—to Department of Global Ecology Christopher Field maintain world leadership in basic research. I thank you all for your contributions.

Director, Administration and Finance John J. Lively

Director, External Affairs Susanne Garvey

Editor —Tom Urban Tina McDowell Chairman NEW HORIZONS FOR SCIENCE (3 The Living Planet The Carnegie Institution of Washington Geophysical Laboratory Centennial Symposium

As a part of the 2002 Carnegie ated Earth from its core, its surface, and near-surface en- centennial celebrations, the vironments. Geophysical Laboratory orga- Scientists came from all over the world and all over nized a four-day symposium, from the U.S. Members of the organizing committee included September 23 through September George Cody, Yingwei Fei, Wes Huntress, Bjørn Mysen, 26, entitled The Living Planet.The and Andrew Steele. The event began with a barbecue at event examined the interactions be- the Broad Branch Road campus on September 22. tween inorganic, organic, and biological Carnegie scientists from both the Geophysical Labora- materials based on observations, theory, tory (GL) and the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism and experiment. The aim was to address prop- (DTM) participated. Larry Nittler, Conel Alexander, erties and processes of these materials as they in- Steve Shirey, Erik Hauri, and Sean Solomon from DTM fluenced the evolution of our planet. The symposium gave talks. GL scientists who spoke included Russell had presentations on the formation of precursor materi- Hemley, Jie Li, Yingwei Fei, George Cody, Robert Hazen, als and bodies in the early solar nebula, processes of Doug Rumble, Bjørn Mysen, Anurag Sharma, James planet formation, and the establishment of the differenti- Scott, Andrew Steele, and Marilyn Fogel. Image NASA courtesy Global Ecology Is Born!

The Department of Global Ecology was officially established on July 1, 2002, with balloons and champagne. Chris Field, the director of the department, gave a brief speech and popped the cork. Staff Member Greg Asner and son unveiled a new campus sign for the Plant Biology/Global Ecology campus in Stanford, . The system found that is analogous to our own. The system is around a Sun-like The Chilean publication La Segunda IN star, 55 Cancri, and features a planet ran an article in June about the different News with a mass and orbit similar to observatories in Chile. It described Las Jupiter’s. On June 15 Butler was inter- Campanas and the Magellan Project, viewed about the discovery on NBC’s and talked about George Preston’s work Today. The story appeared in national on first-generation stars. It also men- publications such as Time magazine, the tioned night assistant and comic illus- USA Today quoted Carnegie president New York Times, the Washington Post, trator Herman Olivares and Oscar Maxine Singer in an August 14 story USA Today, and the L.A. Times.Many Duhalde, instrument specialist and about human cloning. Singer served on local papers, science publications, and codiscoverer of Supernova 1987A. a National Academy of Sciences panel international media including the BBC that recommended banning the cloning and the Sydney Morning Herald also DTM’s Alan Boss answered a question of human beings. carried the news. In addition to Butler, on why the Earth spins, posed by an 11- Alycia Weinberger of DTM participated year-old reader, for the Washington A front-page article in the August 6 Wall in the NASA news briefing announcing Post’s Kids Post section. A paper he Street Journal talked about Embryol- the find. cowrote with DTM’s ogy’s Andrew Fire’s groundbreaking and Nader Haghighipour, which ap- discovery with Craig Mello in 1998 of A monumental roundup on the state of peared in the March issue of Icarus, using double-stranded RNA to silence cosmology that appeared in the July 23 attracted a lot of attention. The paper targeted genes. The process is known as New York Times featured several explained how Uranus and Neptune RNA interference. The story said that Carnegie scientists: , Staff could have formed under the disk insta- the commercial sector is using the tech- Member Emeritus of the Observatories; bility model in a chaotic nascent solar nique extensively and that the discovery Alan Dressler, also of the Observato- system. The work was featured in the has significantly advanced our under- ries; and of DTM. June 17 San Francisco Chronicle, the standing of how genes operate. July Sky & Telescope, Astrobiology Mag- The work to determine the expansion azine, and SPACE.com, among other National Geographic magazine ran a rate of the universe, headed by Observa- publications. Images from Boss’s model sidebar in its July issue that talked about tories’ Wendy Freedman, was cited in on planet formation were also featured Carnegie’s centennial and its astrobiol- the May 4 Science News. in the August Sky & Telescope. ogy work. James Scott, Staff Associate at the Geophysical Laboratory, was quoted about his research with common bacte- ria that were subjected to extreme con- Attention-Getting ditions and lived. Conference at Carnegie An article about Mercury and the MES- SENGER mission to the innermost he field of extrasolar planets is one of the most intriguing areas in sci- planet appeared in the October Astron- ence today. On June 18-21 Carnegie and NASA cosponsored a confer- omy Magazine. It quoted Sean ence on the subject titled “Scientific Frontiers in Research on Extrasolar Solomon, mission Principal Investigator Planets.” DTM’s Sara Seager and Alan Boss helped organize the meet- and director of the Department of Ter- ing. Researchers came from all over the world to the conference site at restrial Magnetism, extensively. TCarnegie’s administration building in Washington, D.C. Many members of the press also attended. George Cody of the Geophysical Labo- A press conference was held in the library on June 19. William Herbst, an as- ratory was quoted in the June 4 New tronomer at Wesleyan University who was a postdoc at DTM between 1976 and York Times in an article about astrobiol- 1978, announced that his team found evidence suggesting that dust and gas, the ogy. Sara Seager, the newest Staff Mem- precursors to planets, and possibly something larger may be orbiting the distant ber at the Department of Terrestrial star KH 15D. The find could give scientists a view of what goes on during early Magnetism (DTM), was also quoted. In planet formation. Reporters from news organizations such as CBS News, the addition, the article noted the work of Associated Press, United Press International, the Voice of America, and the DTM’s Paul Butler in the search for ex- publications USA Today, Nature, and Sky & Telescope were present at the an- trasolar planets. nouncement. Others watched the proceedings via a live webcast conducted by Carnegie’s Web manager, John Strom. Alan Boss participated in the event by News outlets from around the world re- fielding questions from reporters. News coverage was extensive. ported on the announcement made by Paul Butler and team of the first solar NEW HORIZONS FOR SCIENCE (5 REACHING OUT at the Observatories In the last several months the Observatories has been a beehive of activity in the Pasadena community. Director Gus Oemler and staff astronomers Alan Dressler, Wendy Freedman, Luis Ho, Paul Martini, Pat McCarthy, John Mulchaey, Eric Persson, George Preston, and Steve Shectman have all become involved. They are currently assisting Nancy Davis, the new regional director for external affairs, with a wide variety of new initiatives—educational programs, collaborations with other organizations, open houses, tours of the Observatories, astrophysics symposia, and public lectures. All of these efforts are benefiting both the community and Carnegie.

✶ CORAL KIDS In a whirlwind few months begin- ning in April, Observatories Staff Member John Mulchaey de- veloped a curriculum and cotaught a seven-week hands-on multidisciplinary course, “Our Place in the Universe,” for 36 Pasadena high school students—four days a week, eight hours a day. The program was designed to expose students to astronomy, including the real-world array of different career options. It began when the director of the Observatories, Gus Oemler, called on the new mayor of Pasadena, Bill Bogaard, to explore ways in which Carnegie could help the local schools with science education. The mayor jumped at the opportunity and hosted two luncheons with area educators to discuss possibili- ties. Communities Organizing Resources to Advance Learning (CORAL) enlisted Carnegie’s help, and the synergy began. The CORAL students were particularly taken with the Observatories CORAL is funded by the James Irvine Foundation to machine shop. Jerson Castillo (second from right) and Robert Storts improve academic achievement in grades K through 12 in five (far right) explain how the machine shop is used to build instru- California cities including Pasadena. The group relies on outside ments and parts for the telescopes. organizations, communities, parents, and noneducation resources to help students, who are mostly low-income, become “more pro- ductive learners.” students opted to work on their projects even on their days off Mulchaey had never taught high school. But with a keen in- and on Saturdays, when there was no CORAL-sponsored trans- stinct for teaching and help from two teachers employed by portation to their school. They produced scientifically based CORAL, he developed a curriculum that was so successful the travel brochures for the planets in the solar system and designed aliens that could live on each one. They built a scale model of the solar system and painted a giant mural on the CORAL building showing 15 items that should be included on a spacecraft from Earth to represent what our planet is like.“It went way beyond as- tronomy,” said Mulchaey. “In addition to learning about other sciences, they had to read and write every day—something they were not used to doing.” In addition to weeklong projects, the students each made an astronomy movie on topics ranging from the life cycle of a star to volcanoes on Mars. They toured Mount Wilson and had a “star party” with a local chapter of the Sidewalk Astronomers, who provided telescopes and talks about the night sky. They also vis- ited Santa Barbara Street. Mulchaey was amused that the students enjoyed the Observatories headquarters more than Mount Observatories Staff Member John Mulchaey (left) talks to students Wilson because they got to walk the halls where Einstein walked. in the CORAL program about the Inamori Magellan Areal Camera They also saw the photographic plate of Halley’s Comet in 1910 and Spectrograph (IMACS). The most powerful tool of its kind, and were introduced to the different kinds of employment op- it will allow astronomers to view hundreds of distant objects portunities that are available. They were particularly taken with in the universe simultaneously. the machine shop and instrument maker Robert Storts, who ex-

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[ Reaching Out at the Observatories, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5]

plained how the shop worked. Joe Asa, a former technician who now consults for the Observatories, told them, “If you learn how to get your hands dirty and how to build something, you’re valu- able.”The students had no idea that such jobs existed. Mulchaey said that all of the students showed significant Steve Shectman, one designer of the Echelle spectrograph (left), signs of improvement in understanding concepts and expressing talks about the instrument with Mike Whalen from the John Stauffer themselves during the course of the program. Several parents Charitable Trust (right). Stauffer gave generously to the project. came to him on parents’ day raving about the changes they saw in Rebecca Bernstein (second from right), the other designer their children. They said that their kids now talked about what on the project, and Nancy Davis, regional director for external they were doing and had a positive outlook toward learning. One affairs (second from left), are also shown. child had even started reading for pleasure. Mulchaey was sur- prised at how much the program meant to some of the students. When emotions ran high at graduation, he realized just how im- portant it had become. ✶ THE GRUBER AWARD The gardens at the Ob- Before the summer session was even over, Mulchaey and servatories will be this year’s site of the awards ceremony for the Nancy Davis were already busy making plans to leverage prestigious Cosmology Prize given by the Peter Gruber Founda- Mulchaey’s work by creating an education outreach committee tion. It is the only award that honors those who have made fun- with area educators. They approached the new principal of the damental contributions to cosmology. Staff Member Emeritus nearby Longfellow Elementary School and ended up “adopting” Allan Sandage received the prize in 2000. The 2002 ceremony will the school. Longfellow will provide Mulchaey with an empty take place November 18, 2002, at noon. classroom, which he plans to stock with computers, models, and other equipment. His goal is to transform it into an interactive ✶ ENCOURAGING VISITORS The Observa- science resource center that will help teachers learn how to teach tories recently welcomed Mike Whalen from the John Stauffer science better and help students explore on their own. Charitable Trust to view the completed Echelle spectrograph. The trust has been a generous supporter of the project. Whalen visited ✶ ON EXHIBIT The Carnegie Observatories is a major with Steve Shectman and Rebecca Bernstein who have contributor to an important local exhibition, Pasadena Looks at designed and built the instrument. the Universe, mounted by the Pasadena Museum of History. Another recent visitor to the Observatories was David Carnegie artifacts on display include telescope and instrument Wilson, the founder and director of one of Los Angeles’s most models, photographic plates, and related items showing popular museums—the Museum of Jurassic Technology. Cur- Carnegie’s contributions to astronomy. Later this fall, Santa rently on exhibit at the museum are letters from a skeptical pub- Barbara Street will host a cocktail reception and tour for major lic to Mount Wilson astronomers dating from 1915 to 1936. Both exhibition donors. Mike Whalen and David Wilson have agreed to be founding members of the newly formed group, Friends of the Carnegie Observatories, which will help with outreach efforts.

✶ SYMPOSIA AND LECTURES In celebra- tion of a century of astronomy at Carnegie, Staff Member Luis Ho has been organizing a series of scientific symposia that will start on October 20, when he hosts “The Coevolution of Black Holes and Galaxies.” Wendy Freedman will lead another sympo- sium beginning November 17, on measuring and modeling the universe. A third symposium, on galaxy clusters, will start on January 27, 2003, and will be cohosted by John Mulchaey, Alan Dressler, and Gus Oemler. The final event, on the origin and evo- lution of the elements, will start on February 16. Andrew McWilliam and Michael Rauch will be the cohosts. A series of public lectures by Carnegie scientists will begin next March at the Huntington Library. Wendy Freedman will talk David Wilson of the Museum of Jurassic Technology (left) tours the about the expansion of the universe on March 13; Alan Dressler Observatories with Pat McCarthy, Gus Oemler, and Wendy Freedman will address the mysteries of black holes on April 10; Department (left to right). They are posing with original diffraction gratings. of Terrestrial Magnetism’s Paul Butler will talk about the search for planets outside our solar system on May 1; and John Mulchaey will speak on May 22. NEW HORIZONS FOR SCIENCE (7 Carnegie Keeps Architects Busy

As part of The Carnegie Campaign for Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Part- Science, the institution is experiencing a nership has designed the new building boom. The departments of Em- Maxine F. Singer Building at Embryology. bryology and Global Ecology have com- missioned new main buildings, while The modified Experiment Terrestrial Magnetism and the Geophysi- Building, on the Broad Branch Road campus, is being de- cal Laboratory are renovating and expand- signed by Archeus Studio. ing the old Experiment Building on their joint Broad Branch Road campus. Despite The firm of Esherick Homsey the different locations and different archi- Dodge and Davis (EHDD) is the architect for the new Global tects, the environmentally sensitive struc- Ecology building, which will oc- tures are all similar. As seen in these cupy the same campus as Plant working elevations, the structures are Biology. long and low, and hug their terrains.

Active BLACK H LES in Galaxy Cluster Bring into QuestionO How Clusters Evolve Image NASA courtesy and John Mulchaey ntil now astronomers thought optical data alone, we would have missed that old, red cluster galaxies these hidden monsters,” said John were past their prime and sub- Mulchaey. “If we’d used only X-ray data, dued. Only about 1 percent we would not have been sure that all the Uwere supposed to have Active Galactic AGNs were in the cluster.” Nuclei (AGN)—violent centers where su- Galaxy clusters typically have hun- permassive black holes gobble up sur- dreds to thousands of galaxy members. rounding material and emit it as X-rays. A The researchers surveyed the 100 bright- surprising find by a team of Carnegie as- est galaxies in Abell 2104. It is believed tronomers, led by Starr Fellow Paul Mar- that old, red galaxies generally populate tini at the Observatories, has changed this clusters because during cluster formation view. Using a combination of space-based the raw material for making stars and X-ray and Earth-based optical instru- feeding black holes—gas—is burned off mentation, the scientists found that six and nothing is left to fuel these systems. times the expected number of galaxies in “The presence of these AGNs indicates a nearby cluster have active centers. “This alters our view of that supermassive black holes have somehow retained a fuel galaxy clusters as the retirement homes for old and quiet black source,” said Martini. “Despite the harsh treatment these galaxies holes,” said team member Dan Kelson. “The question now is, suffered as a cluster, they seem to be having the black hole equiv- How do these black holes turn themselves on again?” The discov- alent of a midlife crisis. They aren’t over the hill after all.” The ery has also brought into question how galaxies evolve and how group has already started studying other clusters to see if similar stars form in these environments. activity is present elsewhere. The Carnegie group, which also included John Mulchaey and Scott Trager, published their results in the September 10 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters. They took an unusual approach This is a false-color X-ray of the Abell 2104 cluster of galaxies taken with NASA’s to their study by using NASA’s X-ray Chandra satellite in concert Chandra X-ray Observatory overlaid on an optical image taken with Carnegie’s with Carnegie’s new 6.5-meter Walter Baade optical telescope at 6.5-meter Walter Baade telescope in Las Campanas, Chile. The image reveals X-ray emissions produced both by hot gas (the blue area near the center of the the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. Using the Chandra data, image) and by accretion of dust and gas onto supermassive black holes (the they discovered six X-ray sources in galaxy cluster Abell 2104, smaller blue patches on the outer edges of the image). The number of active, about 700 million light-years from Earth. They then used the supermassive black holes found in this cluster is six times the amount found Carnegie telescope to confirm that all of the galaxies are in the using other techniques. The finding suggests that active black holes are much cluster and not in the foreground or background.“If we had used more common in clusters of galaxies than previously believed. 8) SPECTRA / FALL 2002 HPCAT Gets Closer FirstFirst Image Argonne courtesy National Laboratory BeBeam: a m : “These advances will make the facility the best and most flexible in the world for high-pressure/ temperature experi- mentation.”

Three years after the project part- ners formally signed the agree- ment to construct a new sector at the Advanced Photon Source Why Synchrotrons? (APS) in Argonne, Illinois, the fa- During the 1990s, three third-generation synchrotron facilities came on line: the cility experienced the synchrotron DEuropean Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France, SPring-8 in Japan, and APS at Argonne version of first light. Daniel National Laboratory in the U.S. The APS is a circular particle storage ring, which produces Häusermann, project manager, short-wavelength, or “hard,” X-rays when high-energy positrons (the positively charged an- announced that the High Pressure tiparticles of the electrons) are accelerated inside an injection system and then forced along a Collaborative Access Team curved trajectory in the storage ring. Each 10-degree portion, or sector, of the 0.7-mile syn- (HPCAT) successfully acquired its chrotron ring consists of two bending magnets and two straight sections where X-rays are first ultrabrilliant X-ray beam on produced by accelerating the positrons in intense magnetic fields. These X-rays shine at a tangent to the central circle and feed “beamlines,”where the research is performed. Most sec- July 19, 2002, at 7:00 p.m. The tors are built for a specific kind of research on materials. The short-wavelength X-rays are official ceremony recognizing the comparable in size to the distances between atoms and can therefore be used to determine milestone was July 26. the minute structures and other properties of a vast array of substances, from viruses to nu- Häusermann began the event by clear materials. Collaborative Access Teams (CATs) at the APS study everything from molec- welcoming participants from the ular biology to fundamental physics and . partner organizations—Carnegie, Each research sector around the ring consists of an arrangement of lead “enclosures,” APS, Lawrence Livermore Na- or hutches. Some house the optics required to harness the X-rays while others, the experi- tional Laboratory, the University ment enclosures, contain a range of sophisticated, and often custom-designed, remote-con- of Nevada-Las Vegas, and their trolled equipment used for research. The high-intensity, sharply focused X-rays at the APS guests. After representatives are effectively superbrilliant laserlike beams, which are 10,000 times brighter than those from each of the organizations available at previous-generation facilities. The advancement in beam quality allows X-ray talked about their work and their diffraction—the scattering pattern that can reveal the atomic structure of a crystal—of much smaller samples than before. For high-pressure work, researchers will be able to make expectations, Häusermann led much finer measurements of materials to well above 300 gigapascals, which is equivalent to the group on a tour of the facility, the pressure at the center of the Earth, and to temperatures exceeding 6000 K. A host of where various researchers spoke spectroscopic devices can also be used to identify specific atoms in a sample. And the ability about how they will use the in- of the APS to pulse the beam at intervals of 20 trillionths of a second will allow investigators strumentation for their high-pres- to provoke and view atomic vibrations and displacements in samples in real time. sure experiments. The ceremony High-pressure researchers will be able to use the APS to measure crystal and liquid concluded with a luncheon at the structures, the transitions of materials from one phase to another, melting, vibrational dy- nearby Argonne Guest House. namics, elasticity, plasticity, texture development, bonding, electronic and magnetic struc- NEW HORIZONS FOR SCIENCE (9 to Science with Innovations Galore

tures, and chemical reactions, and determine equations of state—formulas that relate the variables The High Pressure Collaborative Access Team of pressure, temperature, and volume—all with unprecedented accuracy. The studies will con- (HPCAT) is located at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory tribute to many discoveries in an extremely broad range of subjects in materials and planetary sci- in Argonne, Illinois. Shown far left is the APS ence, and will provide information on the behavior of materials currently secured in nuclear synchrotron. The HPCAT sector is located at stockpiles. approximately 12 o’clock.

Carnegie’s Innovations in High-Pressure Science The new HPCAT sector will employ some of the “old” workhorses of high-pressure physics, such Tas diamond-anvil cells, in addition to the latest generation of advanced instrumentation, much of which has been developed by members of Carnegie’s high-pressure team. Beginning in the 1970s, the Geophysical Lab’s Ho-kwang Mao (now HPCAT team director) and Peter Bell used the dia- mond-anvil cell to break the 1-million-atmosphere mark—a milestone in high-pressure physics. Currently Russell Hemley, Mao, and colleagues are recognized as world leaders in the field, and new research using the HPCAT facility will propel the team even further. Some of the more recent advances that have come from Carnegie scientists include a tech- nique developed at APS sector 13, where questions in Earth science are the primary focus. This technique improves the way samples are subjected to extreme heat for diffraction studies. The The Geophysical Lab’s Ho-kwang (Dave) Mao standard method for extreme heating had been limited in that it could heat a sample from only (center) is director of the HPCAT. He talks with one side using an infrared laser beam, which was cumbersome and prone to error. The Carnegie colleagues before the dedication. team invented a double-sided laser heating system, which includes improved temperature mea- surements. It has allowed researchers to obtain accurate temperatures to above 1000 K at pressures of millions of atmospheres. Working at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Carnegie scientists also pioneered the use of infrared microspectroscopy by taking advantage of the flux available from lower-energy synchrotron radiation sources so that new types of experiments can be conducted on extremely small samples at millions of atmospheres. There are several unique features that have been developed specifically for the HPCAT fa- cility, and with the sector nearing completion, these advances will make the facility the best and most flexible in the world for high-pressure/temperature experimentation. Four out of five exper- iment enclosures will be able to operate simultaneously. To accomplish this increase in productiv- ity, the researchers devised a way to effectively double the X-ray beams, thus doubling the experiment capacity. They designed a system in which one wavelength of the X-ray is selected and channeled to one experiment enclosure for high-pressure spectroscopy measurements, while at Daniel Häusermann, project manager for the the same time another wavelength is selected from the remainder of the radiation spectrum for HPCAT, takes visitors on a tour of the new sec- high-pressure diffraction studies in another experiment enclosure. The instruments, called the tor as part of the dedication program. He is Double Crystal Monochromator and the Branching Double Crystal Monochromator, exploit both describing the equipment inside a hutch. the X-ray transparent and crystal optics properties of near-perfect diamonds to selectively divert the different wavelengths required for experiments. This doubling of the experimental capacity has been accomplished at minimal extra cost. Even at a laserlike size, the beam is far too big for some of the high-pressure samples that scientists want to study. To study minute samples, the collaborators came up with novel ways of “demagnifying” the beam to produce X-ray beam sizes where the sample is positioned 10 to 40 times smaller than the size of the X-ray-emitting positron beam, which is the width of a human hair. They fashioned small mirrors into adjustable parabolic shapes that focus the X-rays to mi- cron, and even submicron, sizes, and coupled this with ultra-accurate positioning systems for the optics and high-pressure equipment. The experiment and mirrors are located on separate high- stability tables that move on tracks. The track layout allows the sample in the pressure cell to be moved farther from or closer to the mirrors, thus changing the focal spot size to that needed for a given experiment. The team has also constructed a new system where two detectors can be used in As part of the tour of the HPCAT sector, re- the same experiment. In a parallel development in their lab in Washington, Hemley and Mao are searchers explained many of the investiga- currently developing ways to grow large diamonds (up to 25 carats as opposed to the 0.25 carat tions they are conducting. Russell Hemley of typically used today), which will be used in a new generation of anvil cells that will be able to ac- the Geophysical Lab talks about high-pres- commodate much larger samples and compress them to ultrahigh pressures. sure, high-temperature X-ray studies that use the diamond-anvil cell.

[CONTINUED ON PAGE 10] 10) SPECTRA / FALL 2002 Read all about it!

[ First Beam, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9] Finding My Way: As if these and other innovations were not enough, The Autobiography of an Optimist the HPCAT staff is also exploring the use of a “virtual labo- ratory” to automatically align and control experiments. Longtime Carnegie friend Evelyn Stefansson Nef recently This system would also allow partners to use the facility published her autobiography, Finding My Way: The from remote locations. Since the enclosures are closed dur- Autobiography of an Optimist. The daughter of Hungarian- ing measurements because of the very high radiation levels Jewish immigrants, Nef has had an extraordinary life. She anyway, and all activities are computer controlled, this pos- was virtually on her own as an adolescent in New York and sibility is an attractive way to save time and money required became part of that city’s art community in the 1930s. She for travel. became a puppeteer with Bil Baird and then his wife. Later she worked as a researcher and writer for the Arctic explorer What’s Next? Vilhjalmur Stefansson, whom she mar- The three years it has taken to get to this point have been a ried. After his death, she married John long, hard haul with many unexpected challenges along the Nef, through whom she came to know way. But, Häusermann says, the team is looking forward to some of the most famous artists of the beginning scientific experiments this October in the first day. In her late fifties, Nef changed her experiment enclosure. And it is determined to start solving course again and became a psy- key scientific problems from day one. After this, it is ex- chotherapist—a profession she pected that another enclosure will be brought into opera- retired from at age 80. Her stories tion every three months until the full completion of the make a fascinating read. construction phase at the end of summer 2003.

Diamonds are Much More Than Just Pretty Gemstones

teven Shirey and David James, staff scientists at the De- at the trace element and isotopic composition of the diamonds, partment of Terrestrial Magnetism (DTM), and their and the age and composition of mineral inclusions. Based on the colleagues have found that diamonds, and the smaller seismic velocity of P-waves, they also constructed maps of the minerals sometimes included in them, can reveal the cratonic mantle keel. The resulting imagery of the deep structure Sdetails of how and when the oldest parts of our planet formed. showed the type of mantle above which diamond mines are lo- Their results were published in the September 6 Science. cated. “When the picture emerged, we wondered if regional pat- For their research, the scientists looked at evidence docu- terns of diamond age and composition would fit the seismic mented over the past two decades from 4,000 diamonds, and at structure. What we found was the first general framework for di- data from seismic P-waves from the Kaapvaal-Zimbabwe Craton amond formation that is applicable on a continental scale,” says in southern Africa. Their goal was to determine if the composi- Shirey. tion and age of the diamonds correlate to the geologic structure Through detailed analysis, the researchers determined that of their deep-seated source region. They found that there was a diamond formation in the cratonic mantle keel occurred episod- correlation, and that diamonds can reveal a lot about the evolu- ically rather than continuously—there were multiple generations tion of the cratonic roots in the area. of diamonds. Their examination suggested that the craton Cratons contain the oldest rocks on the planet and provide formed in at least two stages and was subsequently modified in a the nucleus around which younger continental material assem- third stage. The cratonic nuclei were created first by a process of bles. They also hold much of the Earth's mineral wealth including mantle melting, which was followed by an accretion process in- diamonds, which typically form beneath the cratonic crust in volving old oceanic lithosphere—the rigid layer of crust and rootlike structures called mantle keels. These keels extend to mantle under the ocean basins. This latter stage helped stabilize depths of more than 200 kilometers, where pressure is high the cratonic mantle keel. Subsequent tectonic and magmatic enough for diamond formation. They date to the Archean period events added new diamonds whose inclusion compositions (3.9 to 2.5 billion years ago), are thought to be as old as the over- closely corresponded with changes in the composition of the cra- lying crust, and have long been a focus of Carnegie scientists, no- tonic mantle keel. tably Joe Boyd and Richard Carlson. Diamonds in the Kaapvaal Support for this work came from the National Science Craton are found in much younger volcanic eruptions of kimber- Foundation (NSF), Continental Dynamics Program, the South lite—a volatile-rich magma that carries diamonds to the surface African National Research Foundation (NRF), and the Diamond from deep within the cratonic mantle keel. The scientists looked Trading Company (De Beers). NEW HORIZONS FOR SCIENCE (11

wiss-Jamaican Rachel Brewster search staff and educators. The company studies how the neural tube—the initiated the program in 1995 by providing precursor to the brain and spinal $20 million to fund a 10-year initiative. cord—is shaped during early de- The goal of the program is to help build Svelopment. In humans and other higher the pool of African-American scientists in vertebrates, failures in this process result in biomedical fields. Brewster, like the other congenital defects, including spina bifida. fellows, is paired with a Merck mentor Since the fall of 2000, Brewster has been at with whom she has regular contact. Her the Department of Embryology in Marnie mentor, Thomas Vogt, a developmental bi- Halpern’s lab, where researchers study the ologist who focuses on the genetics of reti- development of the vertebrate nervous nal disease, is impressed by Brewster’s system using the zebrafish as a model sys- accomplishments and her future promise tem. In the fall of 2003, Brewster will be as she begins her independent research joining the faculty of the University of Postdoc Profile and teaching position. He describes her as Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), a “terrific young scientist who will be a where she will teach and have her Embryology’s role model to the next generation of own lab. researchers, especially effective in Brewster’s goal is to identify encouraging and attracting talented genes that control the folding of the RACHEL BREWSTER young women and minorities cur- neural tissue as it undergoes neurula- rently underrepresented in careers in sci- tion—the developmental process shaping “Marnie and Carnegie have ence and health.” the neural tube. The zebrafish is particu- offered me a precious gift— As Brewster looked to her future be- larly suited for this research because the the freedom to pursue my yond Carnegie, she hoped to find a posi- embryo is entirely clear, allowing the cell tion that would allow her to balance her movements to be seen during early devel- own scientific quest in a high- interest in teaching with her research. She opment. quality research environment, found that opportunity at the University Along with Halpern postdocs Ararat without the coldness and of Maryland, Baltimore County. Coinci- Ablooglu, Christian Brösamle, and Josh tension present in some other dentally, the president of UMBC, Freeman Gamse, Brewster performs genetic screens Hrabowski III, is one of Carnegie’s newest to find zebrafish mutants defective in ner- top institutions. I hope I can trustees. He became the school’s president vous system development. She focuses on carry on this tradition in my in 1992 and has changed the university mutations that specifically cause an arrest own laboratory.” from a commuter school to an interna- of neurulation. Once the mutants are tional powerhouse in producing minori- identified, she can backtrack using genetic ties who earn their Ph.D.s in engineering mapping tools to find the responsible mu- and science. UMBC often outcompetes Ivy tant genes. She hopes eventually to recon- League schools in attracting the best stu- struct the normal genetic pathway that dents. Hrabowski did this through the controls the neurulation process. Meyerhoff Scholarship Program, which After graduating from the University now trains about 50 mostly minority stu- of Geneva, Brewster came to the U.S. in dents a year to prepare them for careers in 1990 to study for her Ph.D. in biology at science and engineering. Brewster was at- the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, tracted by the program and the possibility where she worked with Dr. Rolf Bodmer. of teaching highly motivated students al- She received her degree in 1996 and joined ready interested in careers in science. Dr. Ariel Ruiz I Altaba’s lab at the Skirball When she met with Hrabowski during her Institute of Biomolecular Medicine at New interview, they talked about the possibility York University School of Medicine. Both of really making a difference through her graduate and her postdoctoral work Meyerhoff. Brewster accepted the position focused on how cells of the nervous system Postdoctoral fellow Rachel Brewster with of assistant professor. acquire a specific identity, or specialized her model organism, the zebrafish, at Although she’ll be leaving Carnegie, function, as they develop. From Skirball two stages of development. she, like other members of the Halpern she went to Haverford College, where she lab, will become part of the growing net- taught biology and pursued her research. work of zebrafish researchers who are ad- However, she was interested in doing more Earlier this year Brewster was one of 10 vancing our understanding of what our intensive research on vertebrate genetics. postdocs awarded a fellowship by the own genes do. Her future has an added That, coupled with her long-distance mar- United Negro College Fund (UNCF) bonus—the opportunity to influence a riage to Mark Van Doren, a faculty mem- /Merck Science Initiative on the basis of new generation of professionals to experi- ber at Johns Hopkins University, made competitive proposals. The proposals were ence for themselves the rigors and rewards Carnegie particularly attractive. assessed by members of the Merck re- of research. 12)

IN Brief in astronomy from the University of Padova. King acknowledged the Obser- vatories for giving him valuable access Trustees Embryology to telescopes and plate collections as a guest investigator during 1960-1963. Washington State University has named Don Brown presented one of the — a building for former Carnegie president keynote speeches at the Xenopus In June Barry Madore attended a sum- and current trustee and meeting in Cambridge, UK. mer workshop, “Large-scale Structure,” his wife, Neva. — in Aspen, CO, and later attended the Marnie Halpern lectured in the MBL Library and Information Services in Embryology Course at Woods Hole in Astronomy meeting in Prague. July. Postdoctoral fellow in her lab, Administration — Maxine Singer was recognized for her Joshua Gamse, ran the zebrafish tech- Michael Rauch gave an invited talk at outstanding accomplishments as a sci- niques component of the course. The the workshop “Early Cosmic Structures entist, her dedication to the community, lab’s Rachel Brewster received a United and the End of the Dark Ages” in Elba, and her service to the Weizmann Insti- Negro College Fund/Merck postdoctoral Italy, in June. He spent three weeks as tute with the Weizmann Award in the science research fellowship.

Faber and DEIMOS See First Light See First DEIMOS Faber and a Scientific Visitor at Cambridge U. in Sciences and Humanities. — Trustee and astronomer Sandra July and Aug. — Christian Brösamle received the Faber was elected to the American — Sue Humphreys, secretary to President Barbara McClintock postdoctoral award Hubble Fellow Scott Trager left with his Philosophical Society this spring. Maxine Singer, left Carnegie Aug. 2 to for 2002-03, and Suzanne Hall joined wife, Kate McIntyre, for the Netherlands, spend more time with her two young the Halpern lab as an animal care tech- In addition, the DEIMOS spectro- where he joined the faculty of the daughters. Rhoda Mathias has joined nician. graph for the Keck telescope, a Kapteyn Astronomical Institute at U. Carnegie as the new secretary to the — Groningen. project she has worked on for president. A party was held in May to honor — — Dianne Stewart, lab manager in Allan eight years, saw first light June 3. Postdoctoral fellow Jason Prochaska Sue White, director of mathematics for Spradling’s lab, who began her Carnegie The DEIMOS-Keck combination presented an invited talk on protogalac- CASE, has left to become the national career 20 years ago as a departmental tic chemical abundances at a workshop makes the instrument the most project director for an NSF-funded sci- dishwasher. Many former Spradling lab in Minneapolis. He also presented a ence education project called Science members traveled to Baltimore for the powerful in the world for faint- scientific case for a Next Generation and Everyday Experiences (SEE), a joint occasion. object work. Faber and team plan UV Telescope at the Hubble Science effort between Delta Research and Edu- — Legacy Symposium in Chicago. to conduct the DEEP Survey of the cation Foundation, Delta Sigma Theta Former graduate student Horacio Prochaska left with his family to join Sorority, and the AAAS. Frydman left the Spradling lab for distant universe, which will collect the faculty of U. California-Santa Cruz. — Princeton U., where he will study the 65,000 spectra of galaxies at the — Marjorie Burger joined Carnegie’s intracellular parasitic bacterium, J. Christopher Mihos (Case Western edge of the visible universe and accounting department in Apr. She was Wolbachia. Reserve U., Cleveland) spent May as a previously the director of finance for the — will chart galaxy formation. Faber Scientific Visitor and presented a talk, Alliance to Save Energy. Ben Ohlstein (Ph.D., M.D., U. Texas is shown here (first row, second “Tidal Tales: Using Tidal Debris to Probe — Southwestern Medical Center) started Galaxies and Galaxy Clusters.” from left) at first light with her Sherrill Burger, administrative assistant his postdoctoral research in the Spradling team. and events coordinator for External lab to study intestinal stem cells. Mike Affairs, left Carnegie June 30. Ellen Busczcak (Ph.D., Yale U.) also joined the Carpenter moved from Publications to lab as a postdoctoral researcher. He is Plant Biology External Affairs to become the public initiating a novel approach to identify Plant Biology and the Biological Sci- events and publications coordinator. genes encoding proteins that localize ences Dept. at Stanford U. jointly within specific cellular regions. hosted 75 people from UC-Davis, UC- — Berkeley, USDA-Plant Gene Expression Reiko Nakajima (Ph.D., Osaka U.) Center, and SFSU for the Bay Area started her postdoctoral work in the Plant Pathology meeting on Mar. 27. Zheng lab to study postmitotic regula- — tion. On Aug. 7 Arthur Grossman was awarded the Darbarker Prize by the Botanical Society of America. This prize Observatories has been given since 1955 for signifi- Staff Member Patrick McCarthy chaired cant contributions to the study of micro- the extragalactic telescope time alloca- scopic algae. tion committee for the National Optical — Astronomy Observatories. He was also On July 5 Winslow Briggs was part of the technical reviews of space awarded an honorary doctorate, Honoris flight qualified infrared detectors and Causa, by U. Freiburg, Germany. He was detector assemblies for the Hubble an invited speaker at the Gordon Confer- Space Telescope at the Ball Aerospace ence on Photoreceptors and Signal Longtime Embryology Staff Member Joseph Gall received an honorary Corporation and Rockwell Scientific. Transduction held in Il Ciocco, Italy, in — Apr. and an invited speaker at the Doctor of Medicine degree from Charles U., Prague, Czech Republic, in François Schweizer gave two invited Gordon Conference on Plant Molecular Apr. The university was founded in 1348 by Charles IV of Bohemia and talks at a June 24-28 meeting in Padova, Biology in July. is the oldest university in central Europe. In the image at left, Gall deliv- Italy, also attended by Luis Ho. The — meeting honored Ivan R. King (U. Chris Somerville was elected to the ers his acceptance speech. At right, he is receiving the degree from his Washington), who, on his 75th birthday, Academia Europaea in July. In May, he sponsor, Ivan Raska. received a Laurea ad Honorem degree was an invited speaker at the Lake NEW HORIZONS FOR SCIENCE (13

Arrowhead Cell Wall meeting and was Global Ecology Research Conference on Research at invited by the students at the Max Greg Asner presented new results High Pressure at Kimball Union Planck Institute in Cologne, U. showing the rate and dynamics of forest Academy, Meriden, NH, June 23-28 and Wageningen, U. Gent, and the CNRS destruction in the Amazon at an interna- at the 2002 Gordon Research Confer- Institute in Gif-sur-Yvette to present a tional conference in Manaus, Brazil, in ence on Correlated Electron Systems at series of talks. On June 8 he presented July. Thomas Harris joined Asner’s lab Colby College, Waterville, ME, June 29- a talk on the application of genomics on June 1 as a lab technician from U. July 3. In addition, Mao presented an methods at a meeting sponsored by Colorado-Boulder. invited talk at the High Pressure Mineral the National Research Council at NAS — Physics Seminar in Verbania, Italy, Aug. in Washington. Also at this meeting, Joining Chris Field’s lab to assist with 26-31, and an invited paper at the Inter- colleague Sue Rhee presented a talk the seasonal harvesting at Jasper Ridge national Symposium on the Physics and on the future of bioinformatics. In June are Claire Phillips, John Juarez, Chemistry of Ice (PCI 2002) at Memorial Somerville presented a talk on the fu- Mackenzie Cooper, and Emily Keenan. U., St. John’s, Newfoundland, July 14-19. ture of plant genomics at a symposium Brian Thomas (Stanford U.) joined the — on proteomics at Iowa State U. On Aug. Field lab as a postdoctoral research George Cody presented invited talks at 1 he presented a talk at the Interna- assistant on July 1 after receiving his the Astrophysics of Life Conference at tional Arabidopsis Congress in Seville, Ph.D. in June. the Space Telescope Institute and at the Spain, and on Aug. 2 he spoke on “Fu- — NASA Astrobiology Institute’s Directors Arthur Grossman (left) poses ture Applications of Plant Biotechnol- Thuriane Mahe, a predoctoral research symposium. He also gave a talk, “A with selection committee head, ogy” at the annual meeting of the associate from France, has completed Chemical Comparison of the Organic Spanish Biotechnology Society in Seville. her appointment in the Field lab and has Residues of the Orgueil, Murchison, Louise Lewis of U. Connecticut- — returned to France. and Tagish Lake Meteorites.” Storrs, during the Botanical Society Zhi-yong Wang was awarded an R01 — — of America banquet in Madison, WI, research grant from NIH. He gave a talk Chris Lund received his Ph.D. under Robert Hazen presented a keynote lec- at the International Plant Growth Sub- Chris Field in June and left the depart- ture, “The Diamond Makers,” to the on Aug. 7. stance Association meeting in July in ment for San Francisco. Eighth International Conference on Brno, Czech Republic. Wang also at- Diamond Science and Technology in tended the Gordon Conference in Plant Melbourne, Australia, and gave a lecture Molecular Biology in July and gave a Geophysical Lab on “Emergence and the Origin of Life” poster talk. Wesley T. Huntress, Jr., served on the for U. Melbourne's popular Physics in — NASA-charted National Research Coun- July series. Hazen also visited the Pablo Jenik, a postdoc in Kathy Barton’s cil’s Solar System Exploration Decadal Australian Centre for Astrobiology at lab, was awarded a three-year LSRF fel- Study to review the nation’s planetary Macquarie U. in Sydney to begin a col- lowship beginning in June. exploration program and provide recom- laborative project on organic matter pre- — mendations for planetary research and served in 3.5-billion-year-old black chert Marjorie Santamaria joined Shauna missions for the next decade. from northwest Australia. Somerville’s lab on May 1 as a new — — postdoctoral fellow from U. Edinburgh. The 1986 Nobel Prize winner in chem- Ronald Cohen attended the “Electronic Kelly Wetmore, a UCLA undergraduate, istry, Professor Dudley R. Herschbach, Structure and Computational Mag- rejoined the lab for her second summer has been appointed the Cecil and Ida netism” meeting July 15-17 at to work as a lab assistant. Noelle Green Senior Fellow at GL. Herschbach Georgetown U. There is a growing inter- Lapcevic and Yen Hoang also arrived in is from Harvard’s Dept. of Chemistry est in using iron and iron oxides as new June as assistants in the Somerville and shared the 1986 honor for “contri- materials for semiconductors in elec- labs and were joined by lab assistant butions concerning the dynamics of tronics and in the magnetic behavior of Rosanna Ruelos in July. chemical elementary processes.” iron and its alloys in the context of mag- — — netic storage media. Jason Hom joined Devaki Bhaya’s lab Russell Hemley presented the opening — for the summer as an undergraduate scientific talks at a conference in Ronald Cohen, Yingwei Fei, Dave research associate funded by an REU Collonges La Rouge, France, May 27- Mao, and others attended the High award from the NSF. 31; at the Gordon Research Conference Pressure Mineral Physics Seminar — in Tilton, NH, June 16-21; and at the (HPMPS-6) in Verbania, Italy, Aug. 26-31. Arthur Grossman’s lab welcomed Gordon Research Conference in Fei is on the organizing committee. Jeffrey Moseley in July as an LSRF Meriden, NH, June 23-28. He also gave — Fellow under a three-year award. a plenary talk at the International Sym- A special issue of Geochimica et — posium on the Physics and Chemistry Cosmochimica Acta was dedicated to The department bid farewell to Stewart of Ice (PCI 2002) in St. Johns, Hatten S. Yoder, Jr., in June. Forty- Gillmor in July. He will be joining his Newfoundland, July 14-19. He gave three authors contributed to the journal, wife in Mexico and starting a new post- invited talks at the Livermore, Sandia, including Bjørn Mysen, who wrote an doc position. and Los Alamos National Laboratories introduction to mark Yoder’s 80th birth- — in May as part of a proposed Carnegie day. Yoder’s nomination as an Interna- Yangli Yang left the department on Center of Excellence in high-pressure tional Scientist for the year 2002 was June 30 to start her new position at research to be coordinated with the confirmed by the International Biograph- Roche Bioscience. Yangli was a senior National Labs, and at the IR and X-ray ical Centre, Cambridge, UK. lab technician in Zhi-yong Wang’s lab. microscopy workshop at Brookhaven — — National Lab, May 22. Sébastien Merkel is the 2002 winner On July 23-24 the department hosted — of the AGU Mineral and Rock Physics a working group organized by the US Ho-kwang (David) Mao presented Award. He will be formally honored at National Academy to develop guidelines three invited talks at the spring AGU the fall meeting. for the US National Plant Genome meeting in Washington, DC. He also — Initiative. gave invited talks at the 2002 Gordon 14) SPECTRA / FALL 2002

Gerd Steinle-Neumann, a current Quinn Roberts will leave her job as a 2002 meeting of the Japan Seismologi- Carnegie Fellow, was awarded the lab technician in Marilyn Fogel’s labora- cal Society. She is director of earth sci- Ralph B. Baldwin Prize in Astrophysics tory to enter a Ph.D. program in marine ence research, National Research and Space Sciences from U. Michigan science at U. Southern California. Diane Institute for Earth Science and Disaster for his thesis. He will present a lecture O'Brien (Ph.D., Princeton U.), who Prevention, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. and receive the award on Oct. 1 in Ann worked with Fogel as a visiting research — Arbor. scientist last year, will return this fall as Prof. Hiromu Okada (Hokkaido U.), who — a Visiting Investigator. Smithsonian- worked with Selwyn Sacks as a predoc- Carnegie intern Denise Akob worked in toral research associate from 1971 to Fogel’s lab this summer. Felicitas (Lizzi) 1974, was commended at a special cer- Wiedemann, from George Washington emony by Prime Minister Junichiro U., is working on her dissertation in the Koizumi for his activities at the time of Fogel laboratory. Other visitors to the the disasters caused by the eruption of Fogel lab this fall include Melissa Mount Usu in 2000. Prof. Okada was Southwell (U. North Carolina) and the first individual since 1984 to receive Valery Terwilliger (U. Kansas). this honor. — — John Robert Thomas, who worked as Sara Seager joined the scientific staff an instrument maker at GL from 1951 to in early Aug. She received her Ph.D. in 1970, died Aug. 8 in Washington, DC. astronomy from Harvard in 1999 and then joined the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Her research is Terrestrial twofold—cosmology and extrasolar Magnetism planets. In her extrasolar planets re- The Meteoritical Society announced search, she develops models character- Alycia Weinberger of DTM was awarded the Vainu Bappu Gold that the 2003 Alfred O. Nier Prize will izing the atmospheres of extrasolar Medal of the Astronomical Society of India for the year 2000. The award, go to Steven Desch, a Carnegie Fellow planets, collaborating with both theoreti- granted every two years, honors exceptional contributions in the field of and NASA Astrobiology Institute Fellow. cal and observational groups. In addition, The prize, which honors the memory of she is co-leading a search for short-pe- astronomy and astrophysics by a young scientist not yet 36. It is named Alfred Nier, is given annually “for a sig- riod transiting extrasolar planets. In cos- in memory of M. K. Vainu Bappu, founding president of the Astronomi- nificant contribution in the field of me- mology, she studies what happened in cal Society of India and past president of the International Astronomical teoritics and closely allied fields of the early universe when electrons and research.” The recipient must be protons combined to form hydrogen and Union. Alycia will share the award with Biswajit Paul, an X-ray astronomer younger than 35. Desch will receive helium. at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, India. the prize at the next annual meeting of — the society, in Münster, Germany. Larry Sean Solomon chaired a meeting in Nittler received this same prize last year June of the Advisory Committee to the Wim Van Westrenen also left in Aug. at the society's meeting in Rome. Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia for a postdoctoral fellowship at the ETH — Sinica of Taiwan. Typhoon Lee, former Zürich in the high-pressure research Vera Rubin received an honorary Doc- member of the DTM research staff, is group led by Max Schmidt and Peter tor of Science degree from Grinnell the director of the institute. Ulmer (former GL postdoc). Van College, Grinnell, Iowa, at its May — Westrenen will be joining his wife, commencement. Carnegie Fellow Aki Roberge arrived in former Visiting Investigator Fraukje — July after completing her Ph.D. in astro- Brouwer (ETH Zürich), who returned Larry Nittler was honored in July by physics at Johns Hopkins U., where she to Switzerland in Feb. having an asteroid named for him. As- studied UV spectroscopy of circumstel- — teroid 5992 Nittler was discovered in lar (CS) disks around young stars. She Heather Watson (Dept. of Earth and 1981, has a perihelion distance of 2.45 works with the Far Ultraviolet Spectro- Environmental Science, RPI) has been AU, and is estimated to be 6 to 12 km scopic Explorer (FUSE) spacecraft and appointed a predoctoral fellow with in diameter. the Space Telescope Imaging Spectro- Yingwei Fei. She is studying the — graph (STIS) on the Hubble Space Tele- siderophile element diffusion in the Alan Boss was named a fellow of the scope to determine the abundances of Fe-Ni system at high pressure and Meteoritical Society at the Los Angeles several gaseous species in CS disks and temperature. meeting, also attended by Steven Desch their relationship to disk evolution. At — and Larry Nittler. He was also appointed DTM, she is planning a range of CS disk Matthew Wooller has accepted a an editor for the new Cambridge Univer- observations across a broad wavelength position as assistant professor (Stable sity Press astrobiology series of mono- band. Isotope Biogeochemist) at U. Alaska- graphs. Boss chaired a panel discussion — Fairbanks. Working in Marilyn Fogel’s on naming very low mass objects at IAU Carnegie Fellow Mark Behn arrived in lab, he patented a device called variously Symposium 211: Brown Dwarfs, in Aug. after completing his Ph.D. in ma- the Woollerizer, Wooller-matic, or Wooller Waikoloa, HI, in May. He also presented rine geology and geophysics at device. his models of the formation of plane- MIT/WHOI. His research focuses on — tary-mass brown dwarfs and gave a se- the characteristics of faulting along mid- Shuangmeng Zhai, former predoctoral ries of five lectures on planet formation ocean ridges and their implications for fellow in Fei’s laboratory, has returned to for a summer school at the National the mechanical structure of oceanic China to continue at the Dept. of Earth Observatory in Rio de Janeiro in July. crust and lithosphere. Sara Seager joined the DTM Sciences, Zhejiang U. He worked with — — scientific staff in August. Fei on the role of alumina and ferric iron Former DTM Fellow Mizuho Ishida Carnegie Fellow Ambre Luguet arrived in mantle minerals at high pressure. (1982-1983) was awarded the Medal of in early Sept. A geochemist, Luguet ob- — Honor with Purple Ribbon at the spring tained her Ph.D. in 2000 at the Muséum NEW HORIZONS FOR SCIENCE (15

National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, Andrew Dombard, a Carnegie Fellow May. Margaret Hazen, David James, where she also held a postdoc. She and NASA Astrobiology Institute Fellow, and Bob Hazen were among the pre- studies sulfides and platinum-group left DTM in July to become a research senters, who highlighted the contribu- metal abundances in mantle rocks ex- associate in the Dept. of Earth and Plan- tions of Carnegie and other posed along submarine fracture zones etary Sciences, Washington U. Washington-area organizations to the on the Mid-Atlantic and Southwest — development of the geophysical sci- Indian Ocean Ridges to understand NASA associate Jon Aurnou left DTM ences. the melting processes and fluid-rock in early Aug. for UCLA to become an as- — interactions at slow-spreading rates. sistant professor of planetary physics. James Van Orman left in Aug. for Case — — Western Reserve U. to begin an assis- Michael Smoliar arrived at DTM in NSF associate and Carnegie Fellow tant professorship. He studied diffusion Sept. as a NASA Astrobiology Institute Fenglin Niu left DTM in July to become rates in minerals at very high pressures Research Associate. A geochemist, he an assistant professor in the Dept. of in collaboration with Yingwei Fei (GL) received his Ph.D. from U. Maryland in Earth Science at Rice U. and Erik Hauri (DTM). Shown (from left) are DTM’s Alan 1997. After a two-year term in the labo- — — Linde, Pascal Bernard (L’Institut de ratory there, he took a position in the Visiting Investigator Mark Richards re- Shaun Hardy was elected to the chemical industry. He is investigating turned in July to his position as profes- American Institute of Physics (AIP) Physique du Globe de Paris), Brian hydrothermal alteration of chondritic sor of geology and geophysics at U. Advisory Committee on the History of Schleigh, Nelson McWhorter, a meteorite parent bodies by means of California-Berkeley after spending his Physics in July. The committee evalu- local driller, and Selwyn Sacks. Re-Os isotope systematics and plat- sabbatical at DTM. He is one of the ates the programs and activities of the inum-group element distributions. world’s leaders in linking mantle dynam- Center for the History of Physics. They are standing behind a hole for — ics to geological and geophysical obser- — a strainmeter they installed in June Jay Frogel, a professor of astronomy vations and while at DTM worked on the In July Rosa Maria Torres moved from on the island of Trizonia in the Gulf at Ohio State U., has been appointed a dynamical evolution of Venus and Mars. DTM administrative assistant to be- Visiting Investigator. Prof. Frogel is on — come administrative technical assistant of Corinth. The installation is part of sabbatical as Infrared Discipline Scien- Predoctoral fellow Anna Lucia Novaes at GL with Ronald Cohen and Russell a large program to investigate the tist and Infrared Program Scientist at Arauho, who worked with Rick Carlson Hemley. In May she married Jaime Tor- tectonics of the area. NASA headquarters. A former member this spring on mantle xenoliths and alka- res at an outdoor wedding ceremony of the Visiting Committee to the lic lavas from central Brazil, has returned held on the BBR campus. Carnegie Observatories, he hopes to to the U. of Federal Fluminense, Rio de complete several infrared imaging pro- Janeiro. jects while at DTM. — — Ph.D. student Kalle Westerlund re- Myung Gyoon Lee, an associate pro- turned to U. Cape Town in May after fessor of astronomy at Seoul National spending several months working with U., has been appointed a Visiting Investi- Rick Carlson and Steven Shirey on the gator. A former fellow at the Carnegie Re-Os analyses of sulfide diamond in- Observatories, Lee is an expert in extra- clusions and xenoliths from the Panda galactic astronomy and observational kimberlite of the Slave Craton, Canada. cosmology. — — Twins Sofie Ernestine and John Hendrik The AGU 2002 spring meeting was were born on June 4 to former DTM held in Washington, DC, May 28-31. fellow Emilie Hooft Toomey and DTM Participants included Conel Alexander, Visiting Investigator Douglas Toomey. Richard Carlson, Erik Hauri, David — James, Petrus le Roux, Alan Linde, Ananya Johanna Visweswaran was born Shown (left to right) are Pamela Fenglin Niu, Selwyn Sacks, Mark in Richterswil, Switzerland, on June 9 to and Sean Solomon and S. M. Schmitz, Steven Shirey, Paul Silver, former Wood Fellow Suzan van der Lee Sean Solomon, Fouad Tera, and and Vishy Visweswaran. Krimigis, head of the Space Dept. James Van Orman. at Johns Hopkins U. Applied — Physics Laboratory, at a reception DTM was well represented at the re- DTM/GL cent and final Kaapvaal Workshop held DTM/GL Visiting Investigator Kevin and viewing of the centennial exhi- in July in Cape Town, South Africa. Burke left in June to visit Prof. Lewis Lawrence (Pat) Patrick, bition, Our Expanding Universe: David James, Paul Silver, Richard Ashwal at the School of Geosciences, a maintenance technician at GL, Celebrating a Century of Carnegie Carlson, Steven Shirey, Mark Schmitz, Rand Afrikaans U., South Africa. and former DTM fellow Matthew Fouch — DTM, and BBR, is shown at his Science, at Carnegie’s administra- (Arizona State U.) met and presented DTM/GL Visiting Investigator V. Rama retirement picnic on June 4. He tion building on May 28. The recep- their ideas on the seismology, geo- Murthy returned to U. Minnesota in started at the Geophysical Labora- tion was held in conjunction with chemistry, and geochronology of the July. An Institute of Technology Distin- Kaapvaal Craton to South African col- guished Professor in the Dept. of Geol- tory in 1968 and joined the BBR the annual meeting of the leagues. ogy and Geophysics, he plans to return staff when the departments co- American Geophysical Union — to DTM/GL to continue his experiments located in 1991. His cordial nature (AGU) in Washington. Conel Alexander, Richard Carlson, in the high-pressure lab of GL’s Yingwei Erik Hauri, Sujoy Mukhopadhyay, Fei. and willingness to help the staff in Larry Nittler, Steven Shirey, and Sean — whatever was needed contributed th Solomon attended the 12 Annual VM Steven Shirey and Shaun Hardy orga- greatly to the regard in which he Goldschmidt Conference in Davos, nized a session, “Geophysics in the Switzerland, in Aug. 20th Century: Contributions from was held by everyone at both de- — Washington,” at the AGU meeting in partments. He will be missed. 16) SPECTRA / FALL 2002 Progress on Magellan, MIKE, and IMACS

s scheduled, the 6.5-meter Clay telescope started sci- ence operations on September 7. Scott Burles, from MIT, was the first observer. He used the MIT/Harvard Magellan Instant Camera (MagIC) CCD for the first Apart of his observing run. Matt Johns, who manages the Magellan project, reports that the Clay “will be operating at the same level of performance and efficiency as the Baade in the near future.” The Echelle spectrograph (Magellan Inamori Kyocera Echelle, known as MIKE) that Steve Shectman and Rebecca Bernstein have been building was completed and shipped to Las Campanas at the end of August. The optics have been reassem- bled in their cells. Shectman and Bernstein will start reassembling the spectrograph body at Las Campanas. The target is to use MIKE for science observations beginning in mid-October. IMACS, the Inamori Magellan Areal Camera and Spectro- graph, had a good summer, according to Alan Dressler, Principal Investigator on the project. Greg Burley and Ian Thompson got the CCD camera assembled, and Bruce Bigelow and Greg in- stalled it on the structure. Christoph Birk has been writing the image-producing software. Early indications are that the images ished by the end of September, in- Steve Gunnels, with his are good over the entire field. cluding a 6-foot-diameter “cable wrap” daughter Valerie and his The flexure, which causes the image to move around as that allows the 30-odd IMACS cables son Garrett, are making the IMACS is rotated, was tested and also works well. Among the last to run from fixed equipment racks exterior panels for IMACS. hurdles the team has is the second IMACS camera, which Bruce into the instrument even as it rotates Bigelow is assembling. It is a faster camera and will provide the through more than one revolution. Alan Bagish and Joe Asa are full half-degree field. This feature distinguishes IMACS from any well along in cable fabrication, and this too should be complete other large-telescope spectrograph. It includes two very special by the end of September. If all goes well the team hopes to ship lenses that have strongly aspheric figures—the surfaces are sec- IMACS to Las Campanas before the New Year. tions of spheres—which are almost complete. The tilting mecha- nisms that hold the gratings that disperse the light for spectral analysis were redesigned and refabricated by Tyson Hare and Capital Science Lectures Alan Dressler and are already good enough to provide a working instrument. Now available via live webcast. The exterior panels were installed for the first time by Steve See www.CarnegieInstitution.org Gunnels and his son Garrett and daughter Valerie, who worked and click on “Events” for more information. on them as a summer project. The outer enclosure will be fin-

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