[2] He is also a discoverer of minor planets and an investigator on the extended New Horizons mission, having aided in the discovery of 486958 Arrokoth.
In the course of his work, he has been responsible for the discovery of eleven satellites (moons) of Saturn, eight of Uranus, and four of Neptune, and a hundred or so minor planets.
Kavelaars is the Coordinator of the Canada–France Ecliptic Plane Survey which is part of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey "CFHTLS": a project dedicated to the discovery and tracking of objects in the outer Solar System.
This award recognized Kavelaars' contributions to the development and leadership of the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre, in particular the development of cloud-based astronomical data analysis using the CANFAR Science Platform.
This award was presented in recognition of Kavelaars' co-discovery of 486958 Arrokoth and contributions to the NASA's New Horizons encounter with that object.