Geology Graduate Student Wins NASA Fellowship

Corbin Kling, a planetary geology Ph.D. student in the Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, recently won a prestigious NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship in planetary science. Kling was one of only 33 students in the nation selected for this honor.

The fellowship provides a stipend to cover tuition and other expenses, as well additional money for research expenses, and it can be renewed for up to three years.

Kling’s research studies the formation of pit craters, which result from volcanic or tectonic processes and have been found on Earth and other rocky or icy bodies in the solar system. Kling will be using drones to create high-resolution 3-D models of study sites in Idaho and northern Iceland and comparing those to a study site on Mars. He will use these data alongside sandbox analogue models to more fully understand the processes that govern pit crater formation on planetary surfaces.

“This fellowship is a great honor, and I am beyond excited to continue my research with the help of NASA,” Kling said. “I look forward to testing my hypotheses and continuing to explore our solar system in great detail as I complete my Ph.D.”

Kling holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geology from the University of Georgia and is advised by Paul Byrne, assistant professor of planetary geology.