2025 Excellence in Earth and Space Science Award by the American Geophysical Union

Award:  The American Geophysical Union’s 2025 Excellence in Earth and Space Science Award is given annually to a mid-career or senior scientist team, individual, or group demonstrating a sustained commitment to excellence in geophysical education.  

Awarded to: Daniella Scalice, Communication and Engagement Lead, NASA’s Astrobiology Program. Daniella’s work can be characterized, in a word, as revolutionary. She has gone places and served learners that others rarely do.

For two decades and more than 80 cumulative years of relationship-building across 14 Tribal communities, Daniella and her partners have woven traditional and scientific knowledges together into educational experiences for Indigenous youth in community-based and culturally-based ways. This work intentionally shifted the narrative from a deficit-based model of bringing STEM education to underserved communities toward an empowerment-based approach grounded in humility, respect, and co-creativity.

In 2017, Daniella initiated a first-of-its-kind program at NASA, Astrobiology for the Incarcerated, which brought STEM learning to prisons, jails, and juvenile justice facilities across the United States. She decoded messages and teachings embedded in astrobiology — particularly themes of relationality and adaptability found in the narrative of life’s origin and evolution — and used them to develop hands-on programs for adults and youth who are incarcerated.

In 2020, Daniella led the development of novel requirements outlining higher standards of ethics in fieldwork, particularly in how research proposals demonstrate relationship-building and plans to work with Indigenous communities.

Across this work, Daniella has consistently shown that authentic relationships and the healing of historically fractured trust require care, commitment, and accountability.

Date: December 2025