Jeffrey Pigott will receive the 2016 Mineral and Rock Physics Graduate Research Award, given annually to one or more promising young scientists for 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.

Jeffrey Pigott received his B.A. in sociology and M.S. in mineral physics from The Ohio State University in 2002 and 2011, respectively. He completed his Ph.D. in mineral physics under the supervision of Wendy Panero at The Ohio State University, Columbus, in 2015. He is currently working at Case Western Reserve University as a National Science Foundation Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Fellow under the mentorship of James Van Orman. His research interests include diffusion and thermodynamic properties of minerals at the extreme pressure-temperature conditions of Earth’s mantle and core.