Katherine de Kleer, an assistant professor of planetary science and astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, has received the 2024 Harold C. Urey Prize from the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences. The award is presented annually to an early-career scientist who has made outstanding achievements in planetary sciences.
Dr. de Kleer first joined the faculty at Caltech in 2019. In addition to her assistant professorship, she has served as a Hufstedler Family Scholar for the past three years. Her research focuses on dynamic planetary processes and how they relate to the surface environments, atmospheres, and thermochemical histories of planets and satellites. Her work has contributed to the broader understanding of the atmospheric composition and environmental properties of Uranus, Neptune, Jupiter, Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede.
Dr. de Kleer received bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of California, Berkeley.