The Laboratory Astrophysics Division (LAD) of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) is presenting its 2023 Early Career Award to Professor James W. R. Schroeder of Wheaton College, who received his PhD in physics from the University of Iowa. The award recognizes Prof. Schroeder’s experimental confirmation of the acceleration of auroral electrons by Alfvén waves in the laboratory.

Gold is a metal, but, surprisingly, we know little about its origins. How is gold made? How did it get on earth? Why is gold more rare than other metals on Earth? Being the stuff of legends, these seem like questions we should have answered long ago. It turns out Burlington-local Brian Metzger was recently able to bring some clarity to these long-standing questions. Metzger studied math and physics at the University of Iowa and went on to receive his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.

Brian Metzger, who earned BS degrees from Iowa in physics, astronomy, and math in 2003 and is now on the faculty at Columbia University, received the Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists as their 2020 Laureate in Physical Sciences & Engineering.