Curriculum Vitae

Melissa D. Cashion, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Scholar · advised by Prof. Sarah Stewart

School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University

781 Terrace Mall, Tempe, AZ 85287  ·  mdcashio@asu.edu  ·  Google Scholar ↗

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2024

Doctor of Philosophy — Planetary Science

Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

Dissertation: "Formation and evolution of outer solar system components"
Advised by Prof. Brandon Johnson

2020

Bachelor of Arts — Physics (cum laude)

Texas A&M University, College Station, TX

Astrophysics and Mathematics minors

Cashion, M. D., Johnson, B. C., Walsh, K., Deienno R., Kretke, K., Krot, A. N. (2025). Chondrule formation indicates protracted growth of giant planet cores. Icarus, 429, 116400.

doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2024.116400 ↗

Cashion, M. D., Johnson, B. C., Gibson, H., Turtle, E. P., Sori, M. M. and Melosh, H. J. (2024). Europa's Double Ridges Produced by Ice Wedging. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.

doi: 10.1029/2023je008007 ↗

Cashion, M. D., Johnson, B. C., Krot, A. N., Kretke, K. A., Wakita, S. and Davison, T. M. (2022). Chondrule formation via impact jetting in the icy outer solar system. Icarus, 384, p.115110.

doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2022.115110 ↗

Krot, A. N., Petaev, M. I., Nagashima, K., Dobrică, E., Johnson, B. C. and Cashion, M. D. (2022). Impact plume‐formed and protoplanetary disk high‐temperature components in CB and CH metal‐rich carbonaceous chondrites. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 57(2), pp.352–380.

2026

New Mexico Tech University. Impact vapor plumes and nebular shocks in the protoplanetary disk.

2024

Brown University, Providence, RI. Chondrule formation indicates protracted growth of giant planet cores.

2022

Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO. Chondrules as byproducts of giant planet formation.

Cashion, M. D. and Stewart, S. T. (2026). Development of the IVANS model for chondrule formation: modeling vaporization of ice-rock mixtures. 57th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, The Woodlands, TX.

Cashion, M. D. and Stewart, S. T. (2025). Thermal Processing of Material During Mutual Planetesimal Collisions. 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, The Woodlands, TX.

Cashion, M. D., Johnson, B. C., Deienno, R., Kretke, K., Walsh, K., Krot, A. N. (2024). The protracted growth of giant planet cores as indicated by chondrule formation. 55th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, The Woodlands, TX.

Cashion, M. D., Johnson, B. C., Deienno, R., Kretke, K., Walsh, K. (2023). Chondrules: A Consequence of Giant Planet Accretion (poster). Gordon Research Conference: Origins of Solar Systems, South Hadley, MA.

Cashion, M. D., Johnson, B. C., Sori, M. M., Gibson, H., Turtle, E. P. (2023). An Ice Wedging Origin for Europa's Double Ridges. 54th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, The Woodlands, TX.

Cashion, M. D., Johnson, B. C., Deienno, R., Walsh, K. J., Krot, A. N. (2022). Chondrules as Byproducts of Giant Planet Formation. 85th Annual Meeting of The Meteoritical Society, Glasgow, Scotland.

Krot, A. N., Nagashima, K., Ivanova, M. A., Humayun, M., Libourel, G., Johnson, B. C., Cashion, M. D., Bizzarro, M. (2022). Oxygen Isotopic Compositions of Minerals in Chondritic and Achondritic Lithologies of the CB Carbonaceous Chondrite Sierra Gorda 013. 85th Annual Meeting of The Meteoritical Society, Glasgow, Scotland.

Krot, A. N., Nagashima, K., Ivanova, M. A., Lauretta, D. S., Libourel, G., Johnson, B. C., Cashion, M. D., Bizzarro, M. (2022). Oxygen-Isotope Compositions of Chondrules in Metal-Rich Carbonaceous Chondrites Fountain Hills and Sierra Gorda 013. 53rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, The Woodlands, TX.

Cashion, M. D., Johnson, B. C., Wakita, S., Davison, T., Krot, A. N., Kretke, K., Walsh, K. (2021). Producing Chondrules in the Outer Solar System: The Effect of Ice on Impact Jetting. 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, remote.

Cashion, M. D., Kremer, K., Spera, M., Rasio, F. (2020). The Evolution of Planetary Systems in Dense Star Clusters. 235th American Astronomical Society Meeting, Honolulu, HI.

Sharp, H., Cashion, M. D., Walsh, J., Barth, A. J., Shields, J., Sarzi, M. (2020). Stellar Kinematics of NGC 4203. 235th American Astronomical Society Meeting, Honolulu, HI.

Cashion, M. D. (2019). The History of Planets in Dense Star Clusters (poster). Adler Planetarium, Chicago, IL & Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.

Sep. 2023

Guest Lecture — Impact Cratering: Contact and Compression

Purdue University

Fall 2023 – Spring 2024

Undergraduate Research Mentor

Purdue University

Mentored Josuan Vega (Fall 2023 – Spring 2024), Eva Veeningen (Fall 2023), and John Herring (Spring 2023).

Autumn 2021

Teaching Assistant — Introduction to Oceanography

Purdue University

June – Aug. 2019

CIERA Research Experience for Undergraduates

Northwestern University

The Evolution of Planetary Systems in Dense Star Clusters

Jan. 2018 – June 2019

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Texas A&M University

Statistical modeling of galactic stellar kinematics

Outstanding Graduate Student

2024

Wolfram Technologies Staff Pick — Europa's Double Ridges Produced by Ice Wedging

2024

O. Richard Norton Fund Travel Award

2022

Best 3-minute Talk Runner-up

2022