UH Hilo student receives multiple NASA awards

Raven Kromer

A University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo student is the recipient of several NASA awards, including a travel grant from the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab Mars Office to attend the 8th International Planetary Dunes Workshop May 19–22, 2025 in Alghero, Sardinia, Italy. The award is a national competitive award for graduate and undergraduate students.

Raven Kromer is a senior double major in Physics and Astronomy and English, and under the pen name Raven Daegmorgan, presents “Visual Comparison of Morphologies of Martian Basaltic Sand Dunes with Terrestrial Basaltic Sand Dunes” at the conference, which compares basaltic sand grains from several locations on Hawai'i Island with Mars data from rovers and satellite imagery.

“Since both Hawaiʻi and Mars are volcanic, this island's geology makes a high-fidelity science analog with the Martian surface,” Kromer explained. “Dunes have been detected on the rocky planets Venus and Mars and are thought to give insights on atmospheric conditions and climate history.”

Kromer is mentored by UH Hilo Physics & Astronomy lecturer John Hamilton. His project is also supported by Dr. Steve Lundblad and Meghann Decker of the Geology Department.

“I was very surprised and honored to have received the grant from JPL, and we've been working hard to make sure I can take advantage of the opportunity,” Kromer said. “I've never been outside the U.S. before so beyond being able to meet and interact with international peers and leaders in planetary science, I'll have the chance to experience a whole new culture and city in an entirely different part of the world. I'm also considering continuing this research next year as a larger project, expanding the locations to include more varied environments.”

In a separate award, Kromer was also selected to participate in NASA’s Europa ICONS (Inspiring Clipper Opportunities for Next-generation Scientists) internship program, which will be divided between Johns Hopkins Advanced Physics Laboratory in Maryland and NASA AMES research center in California. The 10-week summer internship will bring together members of the Europa Clipper mission with undergraduate students to conduct original scientific research.

Earlier this year, the Hawaiʻi Space Grant Consortium awarded Kromer a grant to study the orbital dynamics of dwarf galaxies as a test for the properties of dark matter, under the mentorship of Dr. Nicole Drakos of the UH Hilo Physics and Astronomy Department.

“These opportunities really speak to my dream of one day being able to work for NASA on their amazing exploration projects, and thanks to my mentors and everyone here at UH Hilo, I'm getting to do that right now,” Kromer noted.