1-07-2025 12:01am

NMSU Astronomer's Wladimir Lyra and Daniel Carrera Awarded Two NASA Grants

Chris Edwards Editor

Two renowned astronomers from New Mexico State University (NMSU), Wladimir Lyra and Daniel Carrera, have achieved a significant milestone by securing two prestigious NASA grants for their upcoming research endeavors. This achievement not only highlights their excellence in the field of astronomy but also strengthens NMSU's reputation in the scientific community. Their collaborative efforts, which began during Carrera's doctoral studies, will continue to advance our understanding of planetary formation and dynamics, over the next four years.

Wladimir Lyra and Daniel Carrera's recent NASA grants signify a major advancement in understanding planetary formation. With a distinct focus on theoretical astrophysics, Lyra aims to further explore the dynamics of planet formation environments, developing computational models that simulate various celestial events. Carrera complements this research with his expertise in planetary migration and debris disks, emphasizing early solar system conditions that foster planetesimal growth. Their collaborative research is anticipated to bridge significant gaps in current astrophysical models, especially concerning the initial stages of planet formation.

New Mexico State University astronomers Wladimir Lyra and Daniel Carrera have known each other since Carrera began his Ph.D. in Sweden in 2012. Carrera’s adviser was Lyra’s longtime collaborator, Anders Johansen, an astronomy professor at the Lund University in Sweden.

“It's been 12 years, and I've been witness to the excellent work that Daniel has been doing in the field and the impact that he's been having,” said Lyra, an NMSU associate professor in the Department of Astronomy. “After his Ph.D., Daniel did a postdoc at Penn State and then moved to Iowa after that. I was positively surprised and very happy to hear that he was interested in coming here.”

“I came here for a conference Wlad organized in June 2022, and I got to see the place, I met the faculty, I met Jason (Jackiewicz), the department head,” Carrera said. “Honestly, I just fell in love with the city, I fell in love with the department. I knew then I wanted to end up here.”

Carrera came to NMSU as a research assistant professor in the fall 2024 semester with two NASA grants adding up to about $1 million over the next four years. One NASA grant that aims to study formation of planets around other stars is titled “Giant planets in the first million years,” from NASA’s Exoplanet Research Program. The second aims to study the early solar system and is titled “A powerful route to forming planetesimals: Dust growth and the streaming instability," from the NASA Emerging Worlds Program.