2018 Dissertation Prize

2018 LAD Dissertation Prize Goes to Clayton Myers

The Laboratory Astrophysics Division (LAD) of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) is pleased to announce the recipient of its 2018 Dissertation Prize, given to an individual who has recently completed an outstanding theoretical or experimental doctoral dissertation in laboratory astrophysics. For 2018 the prize goes to Dr. Clayton E. Myers for his thesis “Laboratory Study of the Equilibrium and Eruption of Line-Tied Magnetic Flux Ropes in the Solar Corona.” Myers earned his PhD in physics at Princeton University and is now a staff research physicist at Sandia National Laboratories.

Myers works in diverse areas of plasma physics, including laboratory astrophysics, magnetic fusion energy, and high-energy-density physics. His doctoral research generated critical data needed for understanding one of the most prominent plasma-physics phenomena observed in astrophysics — coronal mass ejections from the Sun — through well-controlled and well-diagnosed laboratory experiments.

The LAD Dissertation Prize includes a cash award, a framed certificate, and an invited lecture by the recipient at a meeting of the Laboratory Astrophysics Division.

Contacts:
Randall Smith
LAD Chair
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
+1 (617) 495-7143
rsmith@cfa.harvard.edu

Farid Salama
LAD Past-Chair
NASA Ames Research Center
+1 (650) 604-3384
ladchair@aas.org

Daniel Wolf Savin
LAD Secretary
Columbia University
+1 (212) 854-4124
ladsec@aas.org

Clayton E. Myers
Sandia National Laboratories
+1 (505) 844-4488
cemyers@sandia.gov

The AAS Laboratory Astrophysics Division (LAD, https://lad.aas.org) advances our understanding of the universe through the promotion of fundamental theoretical and experimental research into the underlying processes that drive the cosmos.

The American Astronomical Society (AAS, https://aas.org), established in 1899 and based in Washington, DC, is the major organization of professional astronomers in North America. The mission of the AAS is to enhance and share humanity's scientific understanding of the universe.