The Gordon A. McKay Award is an annual prize given by the Meteoritical Society

Meteoritical Society

The Meteoritical Society is a non-profit scholarly organization founded in 1933 to promote research and education in planetary science with emphasis on studies of meteorites and other extraterrestrial materials that further our understanding of the origin and history of the solar system.The...

 to the student who gives the best oral presentation at its annual meeting.http://www.meteoriticalsociety.org/simple_template.cfm?code=home_awards This award honors the memory of Gordon A. McKay (1945-2008), a NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

 planetary scientist

Planetary science

Planetary science is the scientific study of planets , moons, and planetary systems, in particular those of the Solar System and the processes that form them. It studies objects ranging in size from micrometeoroids to gas giants, aiming to determine their composition, dynamics, formation,...

 specializing in lunar

Moon rock

Moon rock describes rock that formed on the Earth's moon. The term is also loosely applied to other lunar materials collected during the course of human exploration of the Moon.The rocks collected from the Moon are measured by radiometric dating techniques...

 and Martian geochemistry

Geochemistry

The field of geochemistry involves study of the chemical composition of the Earth and other planets, chemical processes and reactions that govern the composition of rocks, water, and soils, and the cycles of matter and energy that transport the Earth's chemical components in time and space, and...

. The award was established in 2009. The award comes with a prize of $1,000 and a certificate.

Gordon A. McKay Award WInners

Year	Name
2009	Julia Ann Cartwright
2010	Rachel Smith
2010	Dennis Harries