Congratulations to Anirudh “Ani” Patel (SAS Physics Major Class of 2022), who was selected as a 2022 Henry Rutgers Scholar Award recipient for his senior honors thesis research project he completed under the supervision of EPS Professor, Dr. Katherine Bermingham. This award recognizes graduating seniors who have completed outstanding independent research projects leading to a thesis in their major field of study or an interdisciplinary thesis. These awards are offered across all departments, so represent only the very finest achievements from School of Arts and Sciences students. Ani will be recognized for his achievement during the SAS Convocation and given a $1000 award.
Ani helped construct numerical mixing models to constrain the composition of Earth’s late-stage accretion using high precision Ru and Mo isotopic compositions of 3.8 Ga mantle samples. This period of accretion is particularly important for pin pointing the timing and source of water and organics that were delivered to Earth. For the second part of his thesis, Ani spearheaded the classification of a newly discovered meteorite. We found that it has a unique composition that appears to sample a previously undocumented period in Solar System evolution. This section of the thesis has since formed the foundation of a manuscript in preparation and a new research project.