Zack Geballe and Rebecca Fischer have been awarded the 2014 Mineral and Rock Physics Graduate Research Award. This award is given to one or more promising young scientists in recognition of outstanding contributions achieved during their Ph.D. research. Recipients of this award are engaged in experimental and/or theoretical studies of Earth and planetary materials with the purpose of unraveling the physics and chemistry that govern their origin and physical properties.

Geballe’s thesis is entitled “Melting and freezing of metals under the high pressures of planetary interiors.” Fischer’s thesis is entitled “Earth’s accretion, core formation, and core composition.” They both were formally presented with the award at the 2014 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, held 15–19 December in San Francisco, Calif.

Zack Geballe received his B.S. in physics from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor in 2008. In Fall 2014 he completed his Ph.D. in high-pressure mineral physics under the supervision of Raymond Jeanloz at the University of California, Berkeley. His primary research interests are the thermal evolution of the Earth’s core and the physics of melting, freezing, and amorphization.