HUNTSVILLE – The National Space Club, Huntsville Chapter, presented Dr. Gary Zank of the University of Alabama in Huntsville with the 2024 Distinguished Science Award.

Zank is the Aerojet/Rocketdyne Chair in Space Science, as well as director of the Center for Space Physics and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR). The award was presented at the 36th annual Dr. Wernher von Braun Memorial Dinner during the von Braun Space Exploration Symposium at UAH.

The honor is presented by the NSC to a scientist who has “made an outstanding contribution in research and discoveries that expands knowledge and understanding of space.”

“It is a great honor to be recognized by the National Space Club of Huntsville with this award,” Zank said. “It is a tribute to the many scientists, postdocs and graduate students with whom I have been fortunate to work throughout my career.

“As an educator, I applaud the incredible work being done by the National Space Club in promoting youth education across Huntsville and Alabama, and we are all the richer for it.”

In addition, Zank is the principal investigator for the statewide, UAH-led Future Technologies and enabling Plasma Processes Project (FTPP), a five-year, $20 million initiative seeking to propel cutting-edge university plasma physics research and technologies into practical business applications.

Zank’s interests extend across space physics, plasma astrophysics and plasma physics, ranging from the physics of the solar atmosphere to the interaction of the solar wind with the partially ionized interstellar medium. He is involved in programs such as NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), as well as the soon-to-be-launched Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe and HelioSwarm missions.