MCSS 50th Anniversary Symposium

MCSS 50th Anniversary Symposium

Celebrating 50 Years of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences

Join us for our 50th Anniversary Symposium

May 20-22, 2025

The McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences was founded in November 1974 through a munificent endowment from Mr. James S. McDonnell through the McDonnell Aerospace Foundation, under the stewardship of William H. Danforth, Chancellor, and Robert M. Walker, McDonnell Professor of Physics, who served as the founding center director until 1999 and guided it to academic excellence and built an international reputation. The Center promotes distinction in space science research at Washington University in St. Louis and training of the next generation of leaders in space science. 

In May 2025, the Center will be celebrating fifty years of playing a key role at Washington University through endowed professorships, acquisition of sophisticated instrumentation, support of faculty involvement in space science missions, supporting postdoctoral and graduate student fellowships and undergraduate interns, seeding innovative research, administering visiting scientist programs, and fostering wide-reaching collaborations.

Join us as we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences and look ahead to new opportunities to advance knowledge of our Solar System and our universe.

Schedule and Events

All talks will be held in the Knight Center on the WashU Danforth Campus. MCSS will be providing breakfasts on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and lunches on Tuesday and Wednesday. There will be a welcome reception on Monday evening in Rudolph Hall, a poster session on Tuesday evening, and a symposium dinner at the McDonnell Planetarium in Forest Park on Wednesday.

Complete Schedule

Call for Contributions

If you would like to present a poster or talk at the symposium, please complete the form linked below. The deadline for submissions is Friday, March 21, 2025. NOTE: The MCSS website will be undergoing maintenance on March 3-4. Please complete this form before or after these dates.

Call for Contributions

Symposium Themes

As we celebrate five decades of groundbreaking research and innovation, we invite you to join us in exploring themes that highlight the past, present, and future of space sciences. Each of these five topics will be featured in dedicated half-day sessions, allowing for an in-depth and enriching experience.

Cosmic Origins

Unravel the mysteries of our universe by exploring the fundamental elements that shape its structure. Topics include the building blocks of the solar system, stars, and interstellar space; the processes of nucleosynthesis; the Big Bang; foundational principles of cosmology; and the intricate field of cosmochemistry.

Early Evolution

Journey through the early stages of cosmic and planetary evolution. Examine protoplanetary disks, the dynamic evolution of the young Solar System, the role of primitive and primordial bodies, cosmic ray acceleration, the phenomena of cosmic inflation, and the life cycles of ancient stars.

Building Worlds

Gain insights into the creation and evolution of planets and their environments. Discuss Earth’s formation, the development of terrestrial planets and their satellites, the characteristics of exoplanet atmospheres and demographics, and the factors influencing planetary habitability, including the delivery of essential volatiles.

Explosions and Impacts

Study the dramatic events that have profoundly shaped our universe. Topics include black holes, asteroid impacts, the formation of the Moon, the effects of energetic particle irradiation, neutron-star mergers, the consequences of space weathering, supernovae, active galactic nuclei, the mysteries of pulsars and fast-radio bursts, and both planetary and terrestrial volcanism.

What's Next? - Future missions, great unknowns in astrophysics and planetary science, dark matter, the next great observatories in space and on Earth, development of novel sensors for astronomy and planetary science.

Look ahead to the future of space exploration and scientific discovery. Discuss future missions, address the great unknowns in astrophysics and planetary science, the elusive nature of dark matter, the development of the next great observatories both in space and on Earth, and the advancement of novel sensors designed for astronomy and planetary science.

Organizing Committee

William B. McKinnon

​William B. McKinnon

Clark Way Harrison Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences

314-935-5604
<p>​Professor McKinnon’s research focuses on the icy satellites of the outer solar system and the physics of impact cratering. He and his students and colleagues concentrate on the origin, structure, evolution, and bombardment history of outer planet satellites and Pluto.</p>
Ryan Ogliore

Ryan Ogliore

Associate Professor of Physics

314-935-6140
<p>Ryan Ogliore's research group uses microanalytical techniques to study extraterrestrial materials in order to better understand the formation and evolution of our Solar System, as well as other stars.</p>
Bradley L. Jolliff

Bradley L. Jolliff

Scott Rudolph Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

314-935-5622
<p>Professor Jolliff's teaching and research activities focus on the study of minerals and rocks of the Earth, Moon, Mars, and meteorites, and what they reveal about conditions of formation and planetary processes over the past 4.5 billion years.</p>
Michael Nowak

Michael Nowak

Research Professor of Physics

<p>Michael Nowak researches high energy phenomena related to the physics of black holes -- stellar mass black holes in our own galaxy, as well as supermassive black holes in the centers of our own and other galaxies -- and neutron stars.</p>
Paul Byrne

Paul Byrne

​Associate Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

314-935-5647
<p>Byrne's research focuses on comparative planetary geology—comparing and contrasting the surfaces and interiors of planetary bodies, including Earth, to understand geological phenomena at the systems level. Byrne’s research projects span the solar system from Mercury to Pluto and, increasingly, to the study of extrasolar planets. He uses remotely sensed data, numerical and physical models, and fieldwork in analog settings on Earth to understand why planets look the way they do.<br />  </p>
James H. Buckley

James H. Buckley

​Professor of Physics

314-935-7607
<p>Professor Buckley specializes in astrophysical research in high-energy phenomena. His research interests include the origin of cosmic rays, gamma-ray and multi-wavelength observations of active galaxies and experimental cosmology.​</p>
Tansu Daylan

Tansu Daylan

Assistant Professor of Physics

<p>Dr. Tansu Daylan’s research program seeks to better understand the particle nature of dark matter and how exoplanets form, evolve, migrate, and potentially support life.</p>
Bruce Fegley, Jr.

​Bruce Fegley, Jr.

​Professor Emeritus of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

314-935-4852
<p>​Professor Fegley’s principal research interests involve experimental and theoretical studies of chemical processes in the early solar system, in proto-planetary accretion disks, in the proto-lunar disk, on planetary surfaces, and in planetary atmospheres.</p>
Kun Wang

​Kun Wang​

​Associate Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

314-935-3855
<p>​Kun Wang applies non-traditional isotope tools (such as K, Fe, Ni, Cu, and Zn) to samples ranging from plants, water, terrestrial and lunar rocks to meteorites from Mars and asteroids. His research interests are to understand the origin of Solar System, planetary formations, core-mantle differentiation and crustal evolution.</p>
Yajie Yuan

Yajie Yuan

Assistant Professor of Physics

<p>Yajie Yuan works on building first-principles models for the high energy processes powered by black holes and neutron stars.</p>
Alison Verbeck

Alison Verbeck

Communications Specialist, McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences

Adam Coleman

Adam Coleman

Physics Manager of Financial Operations

314-935-6281
Marcia Holleran

Marcia Holleran

Manager of Financial Operations

314-935-7587
Katie Vishion

Katie Vishion

Communications Coordinator and Events Planner

314-935-5960

Accommodations

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Knight Center.

You may reserve your room using the link below or by contacting the Knight Center hotel front desk directly
Phone: 314-933-9400
Email: knightfrontdesk@olin.wustl.edu.

Please refer to the
MCSS 50th Anniversary Symposium Room Block.

Reserve Online

Confirmed Speakers

Roger Blandford, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
Robert Caldwell, Dartmouth University, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Vikram Dwarkadas, University of Chicago, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Megan Eckart, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Pierre Haenecour, University of Arizona, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory
Brandon Johnson, Purdue University, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences
Marc Kamionkowski, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Thorsten Kleine, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research
Julie McEnery, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Kevin McKeegan, University of California Los Angeles
David Minton, Purdue University
Frédéric Moynier, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
Jeffrey Plaut, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab
George Ricker, MIT Kavli Institute
Zach Sharp, University of New Mexico, Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences
Paul Schenk, Lunar and Planetary Institute
Tomo Usui, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Department of Solar System Science
Meenakshi Wadhwa, Arizona State University, School of Earth and Space Exploration