The Dissertation Prize, given to an individual who has recently completed an outstanding theoretical or experimental doctoral dissertation in laboratory astrophysics. In 2026 the prize goes to Julia for her thesis: Transformation and sublimation of interstellar ices: insights from laboratory experiments and astronomical observations.

Julia earned her PhD in Astrophysics, cum laude, from Leiden University in 2025, working with Ewine van Dishoeck and Harold Linnartz at Center for Interstellar Catalysis. She is currently a 51 Pegasi b Fellow at Harvard University.

Julia is being cited for elucidating and quantifying several key processes in the formation and evolution of interstellar ices. Her dissertation research focuses on the chemical evolution of interstellar ices throughout the stages of star and planet formation, and on how these processes shape the molecular inventory of nascent planetary systems. For her thesis, she employed ultra-high-vacuum cryogenic setups to investigate radical-driven ice chemistry, as well as both thermal and non-thermal sublimation of volatile species, with particular emphasis on molecules bearing biogenic elements such as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and especially sulfur. She complemented these laboratory studies with astronomical observations from facilities including the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array and the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment to trace sublimated ices in star-forming regions. Her thesis provided new constraints on the origins and fate of molecules from clouds to planet-forming disks, including the experimental confirmation of a new methanol ice formation pathway that challenged long-standing paradigms.

See press release