Liping Qin, a geochemist and cosmochemist, formerly of the University of Chicago, joined DTM as a C.V. Starr Fellow on 4 September 2007. Qin’s research interests focus on early Solar System processes. In particular, Qin plans to study the element barium (Ba) during her time at DTM. Ba has seven isotopes produced by different nucleosynthetic processes that occurred in various types of stars before the formation of our Solar System. Qin plans to determine if the products of different nucleosynthetic processes were completely mixed in the solar nebula such that Solar System objects all had the same Ba isotope compositions as the Earth. Qin also plans to study some Ba carrier phases separate from bulk meteorites, to check for potential isotopic anomalies inherited from the nucleosynthesis of stars.