Professor Kanako Seki of the Department of Earth and Planetary Science has been awarded the COSPAR William Nordberg Medal.

2024-07-19

Professor Kanako Seki of the Department of Earth and Planetary Science has been awarded the COSPAR William Nordberg Medal. We would like to extend our congratulations to her.

COSPAR award ceremony — Professor Kanako Seki（COSPAR 2024 Awards Ceremony）

COSPAR (Committee on Space Research) is an international organization in the field of space science under the umbrella of the International Science Council (ISC), which holds a Scientific Assembly every other year. The organization’s awards ceremony for space scientists was held at the 45th Scientific Congress of COSPAR 2024 in Busan, Korea.

The William Nordberg Medal commemorates the work of the late Dr. William Nordberg and is awarded to scientists who have made outstanding contributions to the application of space science in the fields covered by COSPAR. Under an agreement with the International Astronomical Union (IAU), an asteroid designated by the IAU Working Group on Nomenclature of Small Objects will be named in honor of the recipient of this medal, and asteroid #20063 has been named KanakoSeki.

Professor Seki was selected for the award in recognition of her research on ionospheric losses from planets, which she has been conducting since she was a graduate student at the Graduate School of Science.
Professor Seki’s early work used satellite observations to quantitatively estimate the amount of oxygen ion loss from the Earth and to discuss the processes that cause atmospheric loss. Since then, she has expanded her scientific scope and has conducted cutting-edge research on atmospheric loss not only from the Earth, but also from other planets in the solar system, such as Mars, and exoplanets, using satellite observations and computer simulations.
Professor Seki has been involved in numerous domestic and international satellite missions, sometimes in management roles in addition to science roles. In particular, she is the leader of several space science organizations in Japan and is a role model for students and post-doctoral fellows in the many communities she represents.

Professor Seki’s work is expected to further the development of research not only on the space environment around Earth, but also on the space environment of other planets in our solar system and even exoplanets.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Responsibility (JP): Professor Shinsuke Imada, Department of Earth and Planetary Science