Two Yale affiliates win first IAU PhD Prize

A current Yale postdoctoral associate and a Yale College alumna have each been awarded the inaugural 2016 International Astronomical Union (IAU) PhD Prize for the following dissertations:   

Fabio Pacucci, postdoctoral associate: The First Black Holes in the Cosmic Dark Ages (Scuola Normale di Pisa, Italy)

Laura Kreidberg, ‘11 BS: Glimpses of Faraway Places: Intensive Atmosphere Characterization of Extrasolar Planets (University of Chicago)

According to the IAU press release, the prize was instituted to “recognise outstanding scientific achievement in astronomy by PhD students around the world” and “each of the IAU’s nine Divisions selects a winner in its own field of astronomy.”