The Nininger Meteorite Award recognizes outstanding student achievement in the “Science of Meteoritics” as embodied by an original research paper.[1] In 1965, Dr. Harvey H. Nininger and Mrs. Addie D. Nininger endowed the Nininger Science of Meteoritics Fund to the Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University in order to promote interest in meteorite-related topics among young scientists. A number of prominent planetary scientists and meteoriticists have won this award including William K. Hartmann, Hap McSween, and Dante Lauretta.
| Year | Name | Title of Paper[1] |
|---|---|---|
| 1961-1962 | Michael E. Lipschutz | On the Origin of Diamonds in Iron Meteorites |
| 1961-1962 | Craig M. Merrihue | Meteoritic Xenon and the Origin of the Meteorite |
| 1961-1962 | Michael Fernandez | Locating Meteorite Falls from Micro-meteorites in Soil Samples |
| 1962-1963 | Michael Duke | Petrology of the Basaltic Achondrite Meteorites |
| 1962-1963 | James L. Setser | Determination of the Abundance of Zirconium and Hafnium in Meteorites, Tektites and Terrestrial Materials |
| 1963-1964 | Marvin W. Rowe | Gamma Radioactivity and Rare Gases in Meteorites and Terrestrial Materials |
| 1963-1964 | Ned Read | The Determination of the Orientation of the Cut-Plane through an Iron Meteorite Relative to its Crystal Structure |
| 1964-1965 | William K. Hartmann | Terrestrial and Lunar Flux of Large Meteorites through the Solar System |
| 1964-1965 | Joseph I. Goldstein | The Growth of the Widmanstatten Pattern in Metallic Meteorites |
| 1965-1966 | John William Larimer | The Petrology of Chondritic Meteorites in the Light of Experimental Studies |
| 1965-1966 | Marvin W. Rowe | Xenomalies |
| 1966-1967 | Billy P. Glass | Microtektites and the Origin of the Australasian Tektite Strewn Field |
| 1966-1967 | Donald P. Elston | Accretion of the Murray Carbonaceous Chondrite and Implications Regarding Chondrule and Chondrite Formation |
| 1967-1968 | G. Jeffrey Taylor | On the Thermal History of Chondrites |
| 1967-1968 | Benjamin N. Powell | Petrology and Chemistry of Mesosiderites |
| 1967-1968 | Patrick Freeman | Versailles Cryptoexplosive Structure |
| 1968-1969 | Robert B. Finkelman | Analysis and suggested Origin of Magnetic Particles Extracted from Manganese Nodules |
| 1968-1969 | Paul A. Mueller | A Sutdy of FeII Disorder in Chondritic Orthopyroxenes using the Mössbaur Effect |
| 1969-1970 | Christine A. Jones | Tritium Measurements in Recently Fallen Meteorites and in Apollo 12 Lunar Samples |
| 1969-1970 | Laurel L. Wilkening | Particle Track Studies and the Origin of Gas-Rich Meteorites |
| 1970-1971 | Chen-Lin Chou | Gallium and Germanium in the Metal and Silicate Phases of L- and LL- Chondrites; Implications for the Thermal History of the Chondrites |
| 1971-1972 | J. Marvin Herndon | Magnetic Paleothermometry of Carbonaceous Chondrites and the Evidence for a Magnetic Field Prior to Meteorite Formation |
| 1972-1973 | J. Marvin Herndon | The Occurrence, Origin and Significance of Magnetite in Carbonaceous Meteorites |
| 1972-1973 | William R. Kelley | The Chemical Composition of Metallic Spheroids and Metallic Particles Within Impactite From Barringer Meteorite Crater, Arizona |
| 1972-1973 | John L. Remo | A New Interpretation of the Mechanical Properties of the Gibeon Meteorite |
| 1973-1974 | James H. Chen | U-Th-Pb Radiometric INvestigations of the Allende Carbonaceous Chondrite |
| 1973-1974 | R. Dee Sherrill | An Alternative Approach to the Concept of Carbonaceous Chondrite Fission |
| 1974-1975 | Kathleen Mark | Craters-A Brief History of Their Recognition |
| 1974-1975 | Paul P. Sipiera | Devitrification Studies on Chemical Compositions Corresponding to Ca-Al-Rich Inclusions in the Allende Meteorite |
| 1975-1976 | Lisa M. Albright | On the Nature of the Natural Remnant Magnetism (NRM) of Iron Meteorites |
| 1975-1976 | Stanley M. Cisowski | The Effect of Shock on the Remnant Magnetism of Rocks from the Lonar Crater, India |
| 1976-1977 | Harry Y. McSween Jr | The Chemical Composition of the Chondrules and Inclusions in Carbonaceous Chondrites |
| 1976-1977 | Edward Stolper | Experimental Petrology and the Origin of Eucritic Meteorites |
| 1977-1978 | Horton E. Newsom | Primitive Metal Condensates from the Solar Nebula, a clue from the Bencubbin Meteorite |
| 1977-1978 | Lindy Leung | In Search of Ancient Magnetic Field Traces in H-chondrites |
| 1978-1979 | Mark J. Cintala | Meteoroid Impact into Comet Nuclei: Implications for the Polymict Brecciated Meteorites, Apollo Asteroid Spectra, and Comet-Meteorite Orbital Relationships |
| 1978-1979 | M. Bruce Fegley Jr. | Chondrite Mineralogy and Equilibrium Chemistry of the Alkalis, Halogens, and Phosphorus in the Primitive Solar Nebula |
| 1979-1980 | Alan E. Rubin | Derivation of a Heterogeneous Poikilitic Lithic Fragment in the Bovedy L3 Chondrite from the Impact-Melted Porphyritic Chondrules |
| 1979-1980 | Steven B. Simon | Petrography, Bulk Chemistry and petrology of Chondrules in the Allende Meteorite |
| 1980-1981 | John H. Jones | The Geochemical Coherence of Pu and ND and the 244Pu/238U Ratio of the Early Solar System |
| 1980-1981 | Leanne Wiberg | The Hico Structure: A Possible Impact Structure in North-Central Texas |
| 1981-1982 | Alan S. Kornacki | Petrography Classification, and the Origin of the Fine- to Coarse-Grained Ca, Al-Rich Inclusions in the Allende C3 (V) Chondrite |
| 1981-1982 | Peter T. Wlasuk | The Contributions of Hubert A. Newton to Nineteenth-Century Meteoritics |
| 1982-1983 | Stephen R. Sutton | Thermoluminescence (TL) Dating of Shock-Metamorphosed Rock from Meteor Crater, Arizona: Shock Threshold for TL Resetting and Post-Impact Temperature of the Crater Floor |
| 1983-1984 | R. Kyle Guimon | Thermoluminescence and Metamorphism in Type 3 Ordinary Chondrules |
| 1984-1985 | Bradley D. Keck | Thermoluminescence and Metamorphism in the CO Chondrites |
| 1985-1986 | David Lusby | Ubiquitous High-FeO Silicates in the Enstatite Chondrites: Implications for the Chondrule Forming Process |
| 1986-1987 | Joel D. Blum | Are Opaque Assemblages in the Ca, Al-Rich Inclusions in Chondtritic Meteorites Really "Fremdlinge?" |
| 1986-1987 | John A. Garges | Detection and Classification of Meteoritic Material at the Ries Impact Crater by Determination of Osmium Isotopic Accelerator Mass Spectrometry |
| 1987-1988 | Lindsay P. Keller | Calcic Micas in the Allende CV3 Chondrite: Implications for the Alteration of Ca- and Al-Rich Inclusions |
| 1987-1988 | Michael R. Wing | On the Origin of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Carbonaceous Chondrites: Evidence for Thermal and Aqueous Alteration in the Parent Planet |
| 1988-1989 | Chad T. Olinger | An Extraterrestrial Origin of the Polar Sediment Particles: Confirmation by Neon Isotopic Analysis of Individual Samples |
| 1989-1990 | Timothy McCoy | Metamorphism, Brecciation and Parent Body Structures of LL-Group Chondrites |
| 1989-1990 | Tian Xie | Meteorites Identification and Pairing Recognition Expert System (MIPRES) |
| 1990-1991 | Xiaoyue Xiau | Study on Formation Processes of Carbonaceous Chondrites - A Continuous Distribution of Highly Volatile Trace Elements |
| 1991-1992 | Stephen F. Wolf | Evidence for a H Chondrite Meteoroid Stream |
| 1992-1993 | Don D. Eisenhour | Were Chondrules Formed by Light? |
| 1993-1994 | Edward S. Michlovich | Temporal Variation of H Chondrite Sources |
| 1995-1996 | Dante Lauretta | Experimental Studies of the History Sulfide Minerals from the Solar Nebula to Meteorite Parent Bodies |
| 1997-1998 | Thomas Burbine | Spectroscopy of Vestoids |
| 2002-2003 | Jon M. Friedrich | Chemical Studies of L Chondrites |
| 2005-2006 | Lan-Anh Nguyen | Characterization of presolar silicate grains in the Acfer 094 and ALHA77307 carbonaceous chondrites by multi-detection raster ion imaging in the NanoSIMS |
| 2006-2007 | Nicolas Ouellette | Injection of supernova dust into the protoplanetary disk |
| 2007-2008 | Mary Sue Bell | Experimental shock decomposition of siderite and the origin of magnetite in Martian meteorite ALH84001 |
| 2007-2008 | Anat Shahar | Astrophysics of CAI formation as revealed by silicon isotope LA-MC-ICPMS of an igneous CAI |
| 2008-2009 | Nicholas Moskovitz | The distribution of basaltic asteroids in the Main Belt |
| 2009-2010 | Gregory Brennecka | 238U/235U Variations in Meteorites: Extant 247Cm and Implications for Pb-Pb Dating |
| 2009-2010 | Niina Jamsja (Honorable Mention) | Unusual Igneous Textures and Pentlandite in a Meteorite of LL-Chondrite Parentage, NWA 4859 |