Jeffrey “Raven” Kromer, a senior at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at Hilo, is reaching for the stars—literally. The double major in and , has received a national travel grant from NASA¡¯s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to present his research at the in Alghero, Sardinia, Italy, this May.
Kromer will present a project titled under his pen name, Raven Daegmorgan. His work compares sand dunes on Mars with basaltic grains found on Â鶹´«Ã½ Island¡ªshowing how volcanic landscapes on Earth can help scientists better understand other planets.
“Since both Â鶹´«Ã½ and Mars are volcanic, this island¡¯s geology makes a high-fidelity science analog with the Martian surface,” said Kromer. “Dunes have been detected on the rocky planets Venus and Mars and are thought to give insights on atmospheric conditions and climate history.”
Pushing boundaries
Kromer¡¯s passion for planetary science is matched by his academic ambition. Earlier this year, he earned a Â鶹´«Ã½ Space Grant Consortium to study dark matter in dwarf galaxies under the mentorship of Nicole Drakos, a UH Hilo assistant professor of physics and astronomy. He¡¯s also preparing for a 10-week NASA internship working with teams at Johns Hopkins in Maryland and a research center in California.
“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,” said Kromer.
Kromer is being mentored and supported by UH Hilo faculty John Hamilton (physics and astronomy) and, Steve Lundblad and Meghann Decker from the department.