AAS Journals Welcome New Scientific Editors

We’re pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Kat Volk and Dr. Jennifer Hanley as scientific editors for the Planetary Science Journal (PSJ).

Volk, a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute, brings expertise in small bodies within our solar system, such as comets, trans-Neptunian objects, and the distant, icy denizens of the Kuiper Belt. Volk’s work combines observations and theory to study the orbits of small bodies and the dynamical histories of the giant planets, with implications for planetary migration in the solar system as well as in exoplanetary systems. Volk is also a member of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time Solar System Science Collaboration.

Hanley, a staff astronomer at Lowell Observatory working in collaboration with the Northern Arizona University Astrophysical Materials Lab, uses laboratory astrophysics techniques to study the properties of ices at the low temperatures and pressures relevant to outer solar system bodies like Pluto and Titan. Hanley is also interested in how the presence of chlorine salts affects the stability of water on worlds across the solar system. Hanley also serves as the chair of the DPS Professional Development Subcommittee.

Volk and Hanley join Edgard G. Rivera-Valentín as scientific editors for the PSJ. Along with PSJ Editor Brian Jackson, the scientific editors work to maintain the high standards of science and author support that have exemplified the PSJsince its launch in 2019. With an annual publication rate of 300 articles and an impact factor of 4.3, The Planetary Science Journal has, in less than six years since its first issue, become one of the premier journals in the world devoted to recent developments, discoveries, and theories in planetary science.