UC Davis Professor of Earth and Plantary Sciences Sarah T. Stewart won a MacArthur Fellowship for her work on how random collisions in the early stages of solar system formation give birth to planets and their natural satellites, like the Earth and Moon.

The award is a $625,000 grant with no-strings-attached for the researcher to pursue any question in their field.  Before joining the UC Davis faculty in 2014, Dr. Stewart taught at Harvard University for 11 years. At UC Davis, she directs the Shock Compression Laboratory. The lab conducts experiments using a light gas gun to study how shock waves behave in planetary materials.

Dr. Stewart joins Insight to discuss her research and inspiration to study the early formation of our solar system.

Listen to Dr. Stewart's interview with NPR's Ari Shapiro about her work and the MacArthur Fellowship here.