HIGH-ENERGY ASTROPHYSICS DIVISION ANNOUNCES 2024 AWARD WINNERS
The High-Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) of the American Astronomical Society
has selected the winners for its top prizes for the upcoming year.
The Early Career Prize is awarded for a significant advance or accomplishment(observational or theoretical) in High Energy Astrophysics by an individual astrophysicist
within 10 years of receiving their Ph.D.
This year’s award has been given to Yuanyuan Su (University of Kentucky) for“innovative contributions in understanding baryon physics in galaxy groups andclusters.”"I’m thrilled and humbled to receive such a tremendous honor in recognition of myresearch on galaxy groups and clusters. There are ups and downs in my career but I
always feel very lucky that what I do for a living is what I love,” said Su. “I’m deeply
grateful to my mentors, colleagues, students, friends, and family for their support andinspiration. I look forward to continuing to explore the Universe with so many brilliant
and caring minds."
The Mid-Career Prize is awarded approximately every 18 months for a significant
advance or accomplishment (observational or theoretical) in High Energy Astrophysics
by an individual astrophysicist within fifteen years of receiving their PhD.
The 2024 Mid-Career award goes to Samaya Nissanke (University of Amsterdam,Nikhef, FIAS, IPMU) for “the development of novel techniques to extract fundamental
physics from astronomical data, paving the way for the era of gravitational-wave
multi-messenger astronomy.”“I am extremely honored and humbled to receive this award and recognition, for which I
share with my wonderful collaborators, mentors, and past and present group members,
as well as my family and friends,” said Nissanke. “I am incredibly grateful for theirsupport and for the opportunity to work in this fascinating field of gravitational wave
multi-messenger astronomy. I am looking forward to future collaborations and work withinspiring individuals, and to contribute to the next endeavors in the field."
The HEAD Innovation Prize is awarded approximately every 18 months to recognize
development of innovative, foundational and/or revolutionary instrumentation orsoftware tools that have led to groundbreaking results in high energy astrophysics. The
prize may be awarded to individuals or teams.

The 2024 Innovation has given to Javier García (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center &Caltech), Thomas Dauser (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg) and Tim Kallman (NASA GoddardSpace Flight Center) for “the development of novel models to describe emission in thestrong gravity regime from accreting compact objects.”"Receiving this award is a tremendous honor, and it is even more meaningful to share itwith longtime mentors, collaborators, and friends. Our gratitude extends to thecommunity for their invaluable feedback and unwavering trust in our work. This
recognition serves as a powerful inspiration, propelling us to continue in developing
models and tools that contribute to the exceptional scientific outcomes by our peers ofthe High Energy Astrophysics Division,” the three said in a joint statement.
The HEAD Distinguished Career Prize is awarded to recognize an individual
high-energy astrophysicist who has made outstanding contributions to the field of highenergy astrophysics throughout their career. This year’s winner is Roger Chevalier(University of Virginia) for “pioneering work on a wide range of topics in the field ofhigh-energy astrophysics, including the structure and evolution of supernova remnants,
gamma ray bursts, pulsar winds, galactic winds, hydrodynamics, and shocks.”“I have enjoyed working in this field with terrific collaborators and with a steady streamof exciting observational discoveries,” said Chevalier.
The final HEAD award of this season is the Dissertation Prize, which is awarded inrecognition of an outstanding doctoral dissertation in high-energy astrophysics. Three
finalists have been chosen and each will give presentations during the upcoming HEAD
meeting, which is being held at Horseshoe Bay, Texas, from April 7-12, 2024. The three
finalists for the 2024 award are Milena Crnogorcevic for “New Messengers & New
Physics: A Survey of the High-energy Universe,” Brenna Mockler for “Exploring Galactic
Nuclei with Tidal Disruption Events,” and Tyler Parsotan for “Monte Carlo Radiation
Transfer Simulations of Gamma Ray Burst Prompt Emission.” After the presentations
the Dissertation Prize winner will be announced at the end of the HEAD meeting.
For more information about HEAD, its awards, and its meetings, visit
https://head.aas.org/