Beth Brown Memorial Award Winners for 2025

The AAS-sponsored Beth Brown Memorial Awards honor the memory of a vigorous and engaged young astronomer who passed away at age 39 from a pulmonary embolism. Beth Brown earned her bachelor's degree from Howard University and, in 1998, became the first African American woman to earn a PhD from the University of Michigan's astronomy department. She died in 2008 just before beginning a new position as Assistant Director for Science Communication at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Although her time working in the professional astronomical community was short, she had a significant impact on our discipline, not least by serving as a role model for many students from underrepresented groups.

Three awards are given: best poster presentation by an undergraduate and a graduate student, and best oral presentation by either an undergraduate or a graduate student. This year's competition was held at the November joint meeting of the National Society of Black Physicists and the National Society of Hispanic Physicists, and the recipients of the 2025 awards were announced:

• Best Undergraduate Poster Presentation: Maurice Abraham (University of Florida), "To be a Planet or Not To be a Planet: Understanding Automated Vetting Detection of Disintegrating Exoplanets"
• Best Graduate Poster Presentation: Maliyah Adams (Arizona State University), "Expanding RAFIKI: Developing Cross-Simulation Tools for tSZ Stacking in EAGLE"
• Best Oral Presentation: Kara Green (University of Virginia), "The Resolved Star Formation and Stellar Mass Properties of Luminous Galaxy Mergers"

Each of the award winners receives complimentary AAS membership for one year plus complimentary registration to an upcoming AAS or Division meeting to present their research, and up to $1,000 to cover the cost of food, lodging, and travel.

The winner of the oral presentation award is also invited to give talks at Howard University and the University of Michigan, focusing on their path into research astronomy. The AAS covers the costs of food, lodging, and travel to Howard University, while the University of Michigan pays the winner's food, airfare, and travel expenses.