Universities Space Research Association’s David Kring, working at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, in Houston received the prestigious annual Michael J. Wargo Exploration Award from NASA. This award is given to a scientist or an engineer who has “significantly contributed to the integration of exploration and planetary science throughout their career.”
Dr. Nicholas White, USRA’s Senior Vice President of Science noted, “We are delighted to see David Kring receive this well-deserved recognition by NASA of his scientific research. David’s work in impact cratering processes resulting from the collision of asteroids and comets with planetary surfaces together with his efforts related to the discovery of the Chicxulub impact crater have changed the text books.”
The Michael J. Wargo Exploration is among a group of awards — the Shoemaker Distinguished Scientist medal, the Susan Mahan Niebur Award, and the Angioletta Coradini Award — that recognize outstanding achievement in exploration science. Michael J. Wargo (1951-2013) was Chief Exploration Scientist for NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate and was a strong advocate for the integration of science, engineering, and technology.
The winners of the awards are nominated by their academic peers and are selected by the Director of the Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) — an institute that recognizes the integration of exploration and science.
The awards will be presented along with invited lectures from the recipients at the 2018 Exploration Science Forum to be held on June 26-28 at the NASA Research Park at NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.
Founded in 1969, under the auspices of the National Academies of Science, Universities Space Research Association is an independent, nonprofit research corporation which offers an avenue for government and industry to engage the expertise of the academic community together with USRA’s own technical leadership, innovative R&D, operational excellence, management of premier facilities and education programs to advance space- and aeronautics-related sciences and exploration. USRA works across disciplines including biomedicine, planetary science, astrophysics, and engineering and integrates those competencies into applications ranging from fundamental research to facility management and operations to develop and deliver sophisticated, forward-looking solutions to federal agencies and other government sponsors.
