Out of the only 13 available statewide, two North Carolina Space Grants were awarded to UNC Asheville students. Abigail Grulick and Riley McBride are recipients of these competitive awards that come with an $8,000 scholarship to support their astronomy-related undergraduate research.
Abby Grulick, and her mentor Dr. Christene Lynch.
NC Space Grant is a state-wide network of higher-education institutions, industries, government entities, educational programs and nonprofit partners that, in partnership with NASA, work collaboratively to promote, develop and support space-related STEM research, education and public outreach throughout the state.
During the summer of 2023, UNC Asheville students Ava Tomkins, Phoebe Gittis, and Josh Ward completed undergraduate research at the birthplace of modern astrophysics: Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, home to the largest refracting telescope in the world and about 180,000 archival photographic glass plates taken by astronomers around the turn of the 20th century.
Representing UNCA at the 2023 AAS Meeting: Prof. Britt Lundgren, Delaney Carlton, Abdullah Sayed, Prof. David Wake
After a multi-year hiatus due to pandemic travel restrictions, students and faculty from UNCA’s Department of Physics and Astronomy happily returned this month to the largest annual US-based astronomy conference: the Winter Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, which was held January 8-12, 2023 in Seattle, Washington.
UNCA seniors Delaney Carlton (Physics) and Abdullah Sayed (Physics/Math/Astronomy) presented interactive posters describing the results of their undergraduate research. Each of their projects leveraged the vast astronomical dataset of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to explore different outstanding questions in galaxy evolution and cosmology.
UNCA Physics Major and varsity swimmer Delaney Carlton presents results from using quasar spectra to backlight and measure the gas in the halos of foreground galaxies observed in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey’s eBOSS Survey.UNCA Physics/Math major Abdullah Sayed describes his work using the distribution of metal-enriched gas in quasar spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to measure the baryon acoustic oscillation scale: a “standard ruler” that is used to measure the expansion history of the universe.
Delaney and Abdullah also attended the AAS graduate school fair and listened to a variety of plenary talks delivered by world experts on topics ranging from space telescopes to exoplanets to supermassive black holes. There was even time left over to collect loads of free NASA stickers and posters from the exhibit hall and explore a bit of downtown Seattle!
On the faculty side, Prof. Britt Lundgren also gave a contributed talk about ESCIP (Enhancing Science Courses by Integrating Python): a new collaboration aiming to improve the development and use of educational Python notebooks in Physics, Astronomy, and Chemistry.
All of our team’s research is ongoing, so check back soon for more updates!
Acknowledgements:
This conference travel was made possible with support from UNCA’s Undergraduate Research Program office, donations supporting the Brian Dennison Award for Undergraduate Research, funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF 18-575 #2107727), and from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement(CS Award #26868).
By Samantha Creech (UNC Asheville Physics major, Astronomy minor)
Adjusting the beam collimator — one of the components of my laboratory setup.
Over the summer, I had the opportunity to participate in a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. This university’s prestigious astronomy department offers a broad range of research topics, and while I was there, I was granted the opportunity to work on a project for IceCube. IceCube is a telescope located in the south pole. Buried two kilometers deep in the Antarctic ice, it’s optimized to detect neutrinos, which are some of the smallest, most elusive particles that we know of. These tiny particles give us a way to observe high energy phenomena– supernovae, active supermassive black holes, and even the big bang– in a type of detail that light can’t provide. During my time at UW Madison, I was testing one of the parts that might be used to improve the efficiency of future neutrino detectors. I mostly worked in an optics lab, taking data from various tests and comparing it to computer simulations.
The Astronomy REU cohort on a field trip to the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, IL.
Beyond research, I spent much of my time exploring the area. I learned how to windsurf on Lake Mendota, shopped in the country’s largest farmer’s market each Saturday, camped in a nearby state park, and spent evenings on UW Madison’s iconic terrace with the other REU students. My cohort quickly grew into a tight-knit community, and we look forward to reuniting at the American Astronomical Society conference this January. While there, I’ll be presenting a poster on my summer project, hearing talks on the forefront of astronomy, and networking in preparation for graduate school. I can’t emphasize the impact that this program has had on me, and I look forward to seeing how it plays out in my career.
Windsurfing on Lake Mendota.A Friday evening at the Memorial Union Terrace, on the campus of the University of Wisconsin Madison.
Notes from Summer 2019: Helping NASA monitor the Earth
Tiffany Shreves (UNCA Computer Science major / Astronomy minor) spent the summer as a software engineering intern at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, working with the Goddard Earth Sciences Data Information Services Center (GES DISC). She used Python to make a visualization and geospatial mapping tool for Level-2 earth science satellite data, and made Jupyter Notebook resources to accompany online How-To guides on data acquisition, analysis, and visualization on the GES DISC website.
If you’re interested to know more about what it’s like to work at NASA, look for Tiffany (who is one of our Lookout Observatory docents) at the next public stargaze, Friday September 20th!
Notes from Summer 2019: Studying the early universe in Copenhagen, Denmark
UNC Asheville Physics major Darren Stroupe, at the Cosmic Dawn Center
This summer I had the great privilege of participating in theDAWN-IRES (International Research Experience for Students) Scholar Program. I conducted research at The Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN)* in Copenhagen at the Niels Bohr Institute, where the early Universe and first galaxies are studied through observation, theory and simulation. My research focused on classifying the quality of redshift fits using low-resolution grism spectra and machine learning classification models. The work was intense but gave me insight into many different areas of knowledge (e.g. the high-redshift universe, emission lines, telescope instrumentation, statistics) and provided me with new tools and sharpened skills that I will use throughout my career (e.g. GRIZLI, EAZY, Python, machine learning). My mentor, Dr. Gabe Brammer (who developed GRIZLI and EAZY) provided strong guidance and generated a flood of knowledge every time we met about the project. He and the rest of the staff and students at DAWN are at the forefront of their field and set a high bar for caliber of research. It was humbling to be welcomed by them.
DAWN also scheduled talks
by astronomers and astrophysicists from around the world on subjects ranging
from gravitational lensing to galaxy formation and simulations, with Q&A
sessions shared by the speakers and the Scholar cohort. Astrophysicist
Dr. Joseph Silk, namesake of Silk Damping and author of The Big Bang – a book that was very influential in igniting my
interest in astronomy – gave one of the talks, which afforded me the honor of
meeting him and shaking his hand.
We were also treated to a trip by ferry to the island of Hven, where Tycho Brahe made the arcminute-precision measurements of the positions of astronomical objects that led to Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion that, in turn, helped lay the foundation for Newton’s theory of universal gravitation. The museum there housed some of his instruments and writings, as well as artifacts from the now long-gone observatories.
A statue of Danish Astronomer Tycho Brahe at Østervold Observatory
With the workday finished,
I could ruminate on the latest obstacle in my research while exploring
Copenhagen by foot, bicycle (also provided by DAWN), boat, bus or train.
The Viking settlement-turned-European capital city offers a lifetime’s-worth of
cultural, architectural and historical riches to enjoy: the 17th
century fortifications that were repurposed as lush parks and gardens that form
a ring around the inner city; the many museums that include the National
Gallery of Denmark, the National Museum, the Workers Museum and Design Museum
Danmark; the free-to-the-public pipe organ concerts in many of the city’s
cathedrals; the canals that could be traversed by boat for a different
perspective of the buildings and palaces that span centuries in age and design,
or simply enjoyed by sitting upon their banks with a cold beverage. I found no way to avoid having a
great experience.
Nyhavn’s 17th-century waterfront in Copenhagen, Denmark
While I was unfortunately unable to visit the Niels Bohr Archive, his presence loomed large, nonetheless. I would often, on my walks, find myself at a historical landmark or some tribute to Bohr – or Brahe – reminding me of the deep legacy of physics and astronomy to which I hope to contribute. I cannot fully express my gratitude to Dr. Kate Whitaker and the DAWN-IRES organizers, Dr. Brammer and the DAWN staff and students, and Drs. Britt Lundgren and David Wake at the UNC Asheville Department of Physics and Astronomy for the encouragement, support, skills and knowledge they have gifted me over the course of this experience. With this experience, I feel confident I can contribute to and share in the legacy of those who came before and those who continue to extend the realm of knowledge in physics and astronomy.
* The DAWN center is funded by the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF).
UNCA Astronomers Present at the 2019 AAS Meeting in Seattle
Physics major Makennah Bristow presented a poster at AAS for her second year in a row, this time describing her new research with Dr. David Wake on satellite galaxies in the SDSS-IV MaNGA Survey. During the meeting, Makennah’s exoplanet research from her 2017 summer internship at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center also made the news!
Physics major Darren Stroupe also attended AAS for his second year. This time, his research was accepted for a talk session, in which he presented his latest results on the dust properties of galaxies in the UltraVISTA survey that are associated with Mg II absorption in quasar spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Over the past year Darren’s research has been supported by a North Carolina Space Grant scholarship, and he will be presenting more of his work at the upcoming NC Space Grant SPACE Symposium April 4-5, 2019 in Raleigh, NC.
Physics majors Callie Clontz and Samantha Creech attended AAS for the first time this year and both presented posters describing their work using observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. Callie presented measurements of the H-alpha luminosity-dependent clustering of galaxies at 0.7<z<1.5 in the 3D-HST Survey — a project mentored by Dr. Wake. Samantha presented measurements of the azimuthal distribution of cold metal-rich gas around galaxies at z~1, showing support for a model in which large-scale star formation driven winds extend to great distances (~80 kiloparsecs) around galaxies at early times.
UNCA Physics major Samantha Creech, presenting her research on the distribution of metal-rich gas in the halos of distant galaxies.
UNCA Physics major Callie Clontz describes her research on the clustering of distant galaxies.
UNCA Assistant Professor Britt Lundgren, who serves as a Co-Chair of Education and Public Outreach for the SDSS-IV survey, helped to organize a giveaway of retired spectroscopic plug plates from the first three generations of the SDSS survey. (The plates are accompanied by SDSS-related astronomy education resources, and since they also make gorgeous coffee tables and wall art, they were the meeting’s most popular swag!) Britt also led SDSS-related activities with groups of local high school students as part of an annual outreach event organized by the AAS.
UNCA Assistant Professor Britt Lundgren talks to local high school students about galaxies and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. (Photo credit: Ani Thakar, Johns Hopkins University)
SDSS-IV Survey engineer Juan Trujillo (University of Washington) helps package a retired SDSS plate for an AAS attendee. About 200 plates were distributed during the meeting to help make space for new SDSS-IV plates at the University of Washington’s plate lab. (Photo credit: Ani Thakar, Johns Hopkins University)
The Directors of SDSS-IV and SDSS-V (Michael Blanton – New York University and Juna Kollmeier – Carnegie Observatories) and University of Washington student Teagan O’Reilly helped organize the distribution of retired SDSS plates to a long line of AAS participants. (Photo credit: Ani Thakar, Johns Hopkins University)
Everyone is now back in Asheville and using the weekend to recharge for the start of the spring semester!
The start of the 2018-2019 school year has been accompanied by exciting upgrades to the UNCA telescope at Lookout Observatory. UNCA senior Matthew Peek and recent graduate Cassie Crowe (BS Physics 2017) led the installation and commissioning of a new telephoto lens and spectrograph. These upgrades open up new research opportunities for students in Observational Astronomy I (ASTR 320), the hands-on course that forms the foundation of UNCA’s astronomy minor. Come back soon for updates on our science!
Above: UNCA’s 14″ aperture f/11 Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, with the new LHIRES spectrograph and Atik camera attached. Spectroscopic capabilities will equip Lookout Observatory for studies of spectroscopic binaries, stellar classifications, quasar variability, and much more… !
Above: UNCA senior Matthew Peek, attaching the new telephoto lens to an additional mounting track on the 14″ reflector. This upgrade will provide a wider field of view for imaging faint, extended objects like nearby galaxies.
UNCA physics faculty members Judy Beck and Britt Lundgren traveled to Santiago, Chile in July 2017 to present at “Sharing One Sky II: SDSS, APOGEE and Astronomy Outreach”, an international meeting of astronomy educators in conjunction with the 2017 SDSS-IV Collaboration Meeting at the Universidad Catolica.
Judy and her daughter Caitlin Hay, who teaches physics in Quito, Ecuador, described their project “Sharing Our Shadows”, which links students in the US, Ecuador, and Chile to share concurrent measurements of shadows throughout the day on the equinoxes.
Caitlin Hay (left) and Judy Beck (right) presenting their project at Sharing One Sky II.
Britt Lundgren served as a scientific organizer of the workshop and contributed a presentation about the available educational materials for teaching astronomy with data from the SDSS.
SDSS-IV observer Katie Grabowski shows off the latest spectroscopic plug plates for the APOGEE-2 South survey.
UNCA researchers present at the American Astronomical Society Winter Meeting
Darren presented his analysis of the physical properties of MgII-absorbing galaxies in the UltraVISTA survey.
Cassie, describing her project, which harnesses the Zooniverse citizen science platform to crowd-source visual inspections of the SDSS-IV quasar spectra.
Matthew presented his work on measuring the surface densities of star formation in high-redshift galaxies, using infrared grism observations from the Hubble Space Telescope.
Makennah, describing her work detecting exoplanets in the Kepler K2 mission data, which she completed during a summer internship at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in 2017.
