Dr. Hasnaa Chennaoui Aoudjehane, a professor in the Science Department at Hassan II University of Casablanca, Ain Chock, received the Meteoritical Society’s (MetSoc) annual Service Award, one of only six awards given to researchers at a ceremony Wednesday at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).
A member of MetSoc for several decades, Aoudjehane received the award for her “enthusiastic and longstanding support of the Society” and her “creative and dedicated efforts in preserving the provenance of meteorites in Africa for the benefit of all meteoriticists.” The organization also recognized “her tireless leadership in community outreach activities promoting geoscience and planetary science education and awareness.”
Established in 1933, MetSoc wsa founded to promote research and education in planetary science, especially studies of meteorites and other extraterrestrial materials, to further understanding of the origin and history of the solar system. The society boasts a membership of more than 1000 scientists and amateur enthusiasts from 52 nations.
Its annual Service Award honors members who have advanced the goals of the Society to promote research and education in meteoritics and planetary science in ways other than by conducting scientific research.
This is the first time this distinction has been awarded by MetSoc to a Moroccan researcher.
Since the early 2000s, Aoudjehane’s research, teaching, and preservation efforts for Morocco’s abundance of meteorites have highlighted the kingdom’s importance to the study of meteorites and planetology. With a doctorate in noble gases geochemistry, she has investigated rare gases and meteorite shock phases. She has also initiated multiple PhD research programs in Morocco and instructed and mentored doctoral candidates.
Aoudjehane co-founded the Attarik Foundation for Meteoritics and Planetary Science in 2019, with the goal of fostering scientific research, knowledge sharing, and territorial development.