The SPA Scarf Award Committee has selected Dr. Paul Cassak and Dr. Chris Cully as this year’s winners of the Scarf Award.
Paul Cassak’s thesis is entitled “Catastrophe Model for the Onset of Fast Magnetic Reconnection,” advised by Professors James F. Drake and Michael Shay.
Christopher M. Cully’s thesis is entitled “Electric Fields and Current Sheet Structure in Magnetospheric Plasmas,” advised by Professor Robert Ergun.
In general, the Scarf Award is given annually to a recent Ph.D. recipient for outstanding dissertation research that contributes directly to solar- planetary sciences. For the 2008 Scarf Award, two awardees have been selected, because the 2008 Scarf Award nomination covers Ph.D. recipients who have completed their degree requirements in one and a half year period (from 1 July 2006 to 31 December 2007).
The two winners will be formally presented with the award at the SPA Section Dinner during the 2008 AGU Fall Meeting, which will be held 1519 December in San Francisco, California.
