18 March 2026
** Contact details appear below. **
HANNAH WALLACE IS THE 2026 DPS-NSBP SPEAKER AWARDEE
Within the partnership between the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) and the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP), Earth and Planetary Systems Sciences (EPSS) section, Hannah Wallace has been selected as the newest DPS-NSBP Speaker Awardee. Hannah is a senior studying astronomy-physics and physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She works with Dr. Hannah Zanowski, an assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, on topics in planetary atmospheres and oceanography with the objective to investigate modern-Earth-like aquaplanets (exoplanets with ~100% ocean coverage).
The DPS-NSBP Speaker Award is part of the DPS partnership with NSBP, which was established in 2021 to jointly represent the interests of planetary scientists and students who identify as members of communities that are critically underrepresented in that discipline. The top EPSS early career presenter at the NSBP annual conference is selected by the NSBP EPSS chairs. The DPS-NSBP Speaker Awardee is invited by DPS to speak at the following year’s DPS annual meeting, with expenses covered by the DPS. More information on the structure of this partnership can be found here: https://dps.aas.org/leadership/nsbp_parnership/
DPS is thrilled to invite Hannah Wallace to speak at the 58th annual DPS meeting, which will be held in Spokane, WA, USA October 25-30, 2026. Hannah’s award-winning 2025 NSBP talk, “Increased Pressure and its Impact on Earthlike Aquaplanets”, focused on her use of ROCKE-3D (Resolving Orbital and Climate Keys of Earth and Extraterrestrial Environments with Dynamics), a coarse resolution General Circulation Model (GCM), to investigate how ocean circulation and thermodynamics would be impacted by changes in atmospheric pressure. Hannah will graduate from UW-Madison in May 2026, and plans to apply to graduate school in planetary science or astronomy.
Contacts:
Dr. Scott Murchie
DPS Chair
[email protected]
Dr. Nathan Roth
DPS Press Officer
[email protected]
More information about DPS:
https://dps.aas.org/leadership/nsbp_parnership/
More information about the DPS 2026 meeting:
https://aas.org/meetings/dps58
More information about NSBP:
https://nsbp.org
The Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS), founded in 1968, is the largest special-interest Division of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). Members of the DPS study the bodies of our own solar system, from planets and moons to comets and asteroids, and all other solar-system objects and processes. With the discovery that planets exist around other stars, the DPS has expanded its scope to include the study of extrasolar planetary systems as well.
The American Astronomical Society (AAS), established in 1899, 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 as a diverse and inclusive astronomical community, which it achieves through publishing, meeting organization, science advocacy, education and outreach, and training and professional development.