HIGP is a multi-disciplinary institute conducting advanced research, technology development, teaching, workforce training, and service in cutting-edge oceanographic, atmospheric, geophysical, geological, and planetary science and engineering. We are a part of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the Mānoa (Honolulu) campus of the University of Hawai‘i. Our Institute is home to approximately 100 faculty members, staff, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students with access to state-of-the-art laboratories and instrumentation, research vessels, and far-ranging field sites. HIGP partners with the College of Engineering for satellite fabrication and launch through the Hawai‘i Space Flight Laboratory. Our expertise spans the globe from pole to pole, from the deep Earth interior to the upper atmosphere, and extends to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
April 20, 2018 Planetary Scientist Klaus Keil Honored by Microanalysis Society for Lifetime Contribution
Klaus Keil in December 2008 at HIGP holds the original energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), built and published by R. Fitzgerald, K. Keil and K.F.G. Heinrich in Science in 1968. In the background of the picture is the EPMA at the SOEST Department of Geology and Geophysics.
Klaus Keil, Planetary Scientist Emeritus at HIGP/SOEST, has been elected a Legends Fellow of the Microanalysis Society (MAS), a society of investigators and engineers who have contributed to the development and application of the Electron Probe Miroanalyser (EPMA) instrument to study the compositions of very small samples of rocks, ceramics, metallurgical and forensic samples, and more. The Legends Fellow distinction was established this year to recognize eminent scientists, engineers, and technologists in the field of microanalysis who have distinguished themselves through outstanding research, outreach, teaching, and service. This first group is known as the Legends Class of 2018.
Keil pioneered the use of the electron microprobe and its application and calibration to determine the chemical compositions of minute mineral grains in meteorites, lunar, Martian, and terrestrial samples. Keil, with two collaborators, also developed and built the first energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) for the detection of X-rays in an EPMA (see photo). This device has revolutionized the analysis with the EPMA, and is now not only part of thousands of electron microprobes in the world's laboratories, but also of almost every scanning and transmission electron microscope.
"I am interested in the origin of solid materials in the solar nebula early in the history of the Solar System, and the subsequent accretion into, and evolution of, planetesimals and asteroids," said Keil. "I also study the origin and evolution of Earth̵s Moon and the planet Mars. This research is carried out on meteorites from asteroids, Moon and Mars, and on returned lunar samples." The aim of his research is to understand the processes that took place in the solar nebula and processes, such as volcanism, that shape various solid bodies in the Solar System.
"I am very honored to receive this award," said Keil. "This is the newly created and highest honor of the Microanalysis Society, and to be named a Legends Fellow is something special, because one is thus in the company of a number of legendary scientists who have contributed to the advancement of electron probe microanalysis and to the development of this incredibly important field of analytical science."
Keil came to UH Mānoa from the University of New Mexico in 1990 as a Professor of Geology. Subsequently he served as director of HIGP and Interim Dean of SOEST. Keil has authored and co-authored over 685 scientific papers and has an asteroid (Asteroid 5054 Keil) and an extraterrestrial new mineral (keilite) named after him. The Society will hold an awards ceremony to honor the Legends Class of 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland in August. Congratulations! Press Release by Marcie Grabowski / SOEST.
March 28, 2018 Crater on the Moon Named for Dr. B. Ray Hawke
On March 16, 2018, in honor and remembrance of Dr. B. Ray Hawke (UH/HIGP lunar researcher from 1978 to 2015), the International Astronomical Union–Planetary Nomenclature Committee approved the name "Hawke" for a 13.2-kilometer-diameter impact crater on the Moon, positioned at 66.6oS, 128.7oE, just north of the Schrödinger basin. Befitting Dr. Hawke's research interests, the crater contains impact melt and is a fresh, rayed crater. In addition to his outstanding research career, Dr. Hawke served tirelessly as the Associate Director for Outreach for the Hawai‘i Space Grant Consortium. He also established and was the Director of the NASA Pacific Regional Planetary Data Center (PRPDC) at UH Mānoa until his death on January 24, 2015. For more information please see the USGS Planetary Nomenclature News Release, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera/Wide Angle Camera image of Hawke crater, and the B. Ray Hawke memorial page hosted at the PRPDC.
March 16, 2018 Emeritus Faculty
The University of Hawai‘i has named Mark Rognstad Emeritus faculty in HIGP. Congratulations, and continued success in your design and engineering endeavors.
March 7, 2018
HIGP Participation in 15th Annual AOGS Meeting
The 15th annual meeting of the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) will be held in Honolulu, HI from June 3-8, 2018. HIGP is participating as session conveners: James Foster, "Integrated analysis of geoscience observations from the floor to surface of the ocean."
Emilio Herrero-Bervera, "Planetary interiors and magnetism" and Paleomagnetism" and "Rock magnetism applied to solving geological, geophysical, and environmental problems."
Paul Lucey, "Field and laboratory studies in support of planetary infrared remote sensing."
Murli Manghnani, "Mantle and core: structure, dynamics, chemistry, and seismology."
For full details visit www.asiaoceania.org.
March 1, 2018 LPI Career Development Award to Caroline Caplan
Jonathan Gradie, March 12, Taking Research from the Lab to the Business World [video link]
Peter Mouginis-Mark, March 19, China in Space – Live Report from the 49th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, TX. [video link]
February 28, 2018
Hannah Shelton Receives 2018 G&G Bullard Fellowship Award
HIGP, the Department of Geology and Geophysics (G&G), and SOEST are pleased to announce that Hannah Shelton (Ph.D. student in Mineral Physics) is the recipient of the 2018 G&G Fred M. Bullard Graduate Fellowship. Shelton's research and laboratory experiments combine geology and material science, as part of the G&G Mineral Physics and Materials Science program, with mentor Przemyslaw Dera. For more about the science, watch their ThinkTech Hawaii interview: Modern Alchemy: From Hades to Heaven with Mineral Physics. The Bullard Fellowship program is supported by a generous gift from the estate of Thais Freda Bullard in memory of her father, Fred Mason Bullard. Awards are made to incoming and continuing graduate students that show exceptional potential for success in graduate school, through a competitive application process. Congratulations!
February 8, 2018
Patty Fryer Publishes IODP Monograph
Find out what else is happening through the SOEST News and Press Releases.
HIGP Mission Statement
HIGP solves fundamental problems in Earth and Planetary Science by the development and application of state-of-the-art exploration, measurement, and data analysis technologies. HIGP serves society and the State of Hawai‘i by acquiring and disseminating new knowledge about the Earth and other planetary bodies, and developing and introducing leading edge technologies and a highly trained workforce to the State economy.
Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology
School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology
University of Hawai‘i
1680 East-West Road,
Pacific Ocean Science & Technology (POST) Building, Room 602
Honolulu, HI 96822
Office Phone: 808.956.8760
Fax: 808.956.3188 Dr. Robert Wright, Interim Director
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Top banner images: HIGP excels in advanced research, teaching, and service. Our expertise spans the globe from pole to pole, from the depths of the seas to the tops of volcanoes, and extends to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. These images show, from left to right: satellite communication dish, a map of tsunami wave heights, map of mid-ocean ridge/seafloor spreading, the IMI (Imaging and Mapping Instrument) deep-towed ocean sonar system, Earth's Moon, active Hawaiian lava flow, Mars, a meteorite collected in Antarctica, and GPS field station.
