Heidi Hammel to be awarded DPS Sagan Medal

Dr. Heidi B. Hammel is this year’s recipient of the Carl Sagan Medal. The
Sagan Medal is awarded by the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS), the
largest division of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). It is awarded
to an active planetary scientist whose efforts have significantly
contributed to a public understanding of, and enthusiasm for, planetary
science.

Hammel will receive the Sagan Medal and associated cash award at special
ceremonies on Wednesday afternoon, October 9, 2002, in the Ballroom of the
Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center in Birmingham, Alabama, the site of
this year’s DPS Meeting. She will then address the DPS membership, the
first Sagan Medal winner to be afforded this opportunity; the title of her
lecture is, “Education and Public Outreach Opportunities for Ordinary
Planetary Scientists.” Sagan Medal winners are also encouraged to address
a public audience on the topic of planetary science. Hammel has arranged
to deliver that lecture in conjunction with the semi-annual meeting of the
AAS in January 2003 in Seattle, Washington.

Hammel received her undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology in 1982 and her PhD in physics and astronomy from the
University of Hawaii in 1988. After a postdoctoral position at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, California), she returned to MIT, where
she spent nearly nine years as a Principal Research Scientist in the
Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. She is presently
a senior research scientist with Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

Hammel’s research focuses primarily on the giant outer planets and their
satellites. She is an acknowledged expert about the planet Neptune, and was
a member of the Imaging Science Team for the Voyager 2 encounter with that
planet in 1989. She has imaged Neptune and Uranus with the Hubble Space
Telescope, and is part of a group working to develop the Next Generation
Space Telescope for NASA.

In addition to her scientific research, which earned her the DPS Urey Prize
in 1996, Dr. Hammel has the ability to communicate scientific ideas to the
public in a clear language with infectious enthusiasm, providing the public
with a personal look at the excitement of planetary science. She
articulately and unselfishly portrays her work and the work of others to
the public and is gifted with a combination of intelligence, enthusiasm,
and belief in the value of public education, something often rare among
scientists.

Hammel chooses education and public outreach projects that parallel her
research in order to get the most out of both experiences. One recent
endeavor was a program called “Live from the Hubble Space Telescope” which
directly involved school children in making planetary obervations with the
orbiting observatory.
“Getting science out of the ivory tower and into the public realm is one of
the most important and exciting things a scientist can do,” said Hammel. “I
try to reach out to kids, especially girls, who may not have realized that
science and engineering are careers they might pursue.”

Dr. Hammel was made a Fellow of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science earlier this year.
She has been cited previously for her work in public outreach, winning the
Astronomical Society of the Pacific’s 1995 Klumpke-Roberts Award for public
understanding and appreciation of astronomy; the 1996 Spirit of American
Women National Award for encouraging young women to follow non-traditional
career paths; and the Exploratorium’s 1998 Public Understanding of Science
Award.

Although Dr Hammel will not be giving a public lecture in Birmingham, the
local organizing committee has arranged for a very interesting public
lecture Monday evening, October 7, at 7 PM in the Ballroom of the
Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center. The lecture, entitled “Adventures
in Outerspace: Galileo and Cassini-Huygens,” will be given jointly by Dr.
Torrence Johnson, Galileo Project Scientists, and Dr. Dennis Matson,
Cassini Project Scientist. It will feature results from the nearly
completed Galileo Mission to Jupiter and planned observations by the
Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn and Titan, which goes into orbit around
Saturn in July 2004. The lecture is free and the public is welcome.