AGU recognizes Postdoc Ming Hao for graduate research in mineral physics

Carnegie Institution for Science Earth and Planets Laboratory (EPL) Postdoctoral Fellow Ming Hao was awarded the 2022 Mineral and Rock Physics Graduate Research Award by the American Geophysical Union (AGU). He will be recognized for his work at this year’s AGU Fall Meeting. 

The Mineral and Rock Physics Graduate Research Award is presented annually to one or more promising young scientists and recognizes outstanding contributions to the field of mineral and rock physics achieved during the honoree’s Ph.D. research. 

Hao is a mineral physicist who studies the seismic velocity and electrical conductivity of mantel minerals in the high pressure and temperature conditions they would experience in a planet’s mantle or core. 

The year’s award recognizes Hao’s work on the seismic visibility of eclogite in the Earth’s upper mantle based on the experimentally determined pressure- and temperature-dependent single-crystal elasticity of omphacite and jadeite. This research was completed before his time at EPL when he was a graduate student at the University of New Mexico.

“I am so lucky and excited to receive the 2022 Mineral and Rock Physics Graduate Research Award,” said Hao. “Thanks to Dr. Jin Zhang, my advisor, for all the help and guidance during my research and for nominating me for this award.”

At EPL, he works with Staff Scientist Anne Pommier and Director Michael Walter to measure the sound velocities and electrical conductivity of hydrous minerals in the Earth’s mantle.
 

“Ming Hao’s elegant work on eclogite mineral seismic velocities will help enable mapping of geophysical and geochemical heterogeneities in Earth’s mantle” says Walter. “This award is well deserved, and we are proud to have him on our team at the Earth and Planets Laboratory.”