Students from CIERA’s summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program and the LSSTC Enabling Science program presented their research projects at the 235th American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting. The conference was jointly held January 4-8 with the AAS Historical Astronomy and High Energy Astrophysics Divisions in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Directed by assistant research professor Aaron Geller, the REU and LSSTC programs focus on connections between astrophysics and other disciplines within CIERA. Students learn computer programming, develop skills in science communication, take field trips, and benefit from career panels in addition to collaborating with faculty on research projects.
The winter meeting of the AAS is the largest gathering of American astronomers each year and includes many opportunities for networking. The students presented the following posters:
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Devin Becker
Advisors: Mario Spera, Fred Rasio Project: The Lives of Stars In Globular Clusters: From Birth to Black Hole |
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Andrew Bowen
Advisor: Aaron Geller Project: Eclipsing Binaries in Star Clusters from LSST |
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Melissa Cashion
Advisor: Mario Spera, Fred Rasio Project: The History of Planetary Systems in Dense Star Clusters |
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Mercedes Collins
Advisor: Seth Jacobson Project: The YORP Effect Can Efficiently Destroy 10 km Planetesimals In The Edge Of The Solar System |
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Emma Kaufman
Advisor: Sasha Tchekhovskoy Project: Investigating Power Spectral Densities of Black Hole Properties |
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Camille Liotin
Advisor: Christopher Berry, Vicky Kalogera Project: Simulation Analysis of High-Mass X-Ray Binaries and their Evolution into Binary Black Hole Mergers |
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Nikolaus (Nik) Prusinski
Advisors: Nancy Aggarwal, Christopher Berry Project: Detecting Orphan Memory from Gravitational Waves |
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Andrew Santos
Advisor: André de Gouvêa Project: Exploring a New Model for Neutrino Propagation Using Current and Future Experiments |
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Sophia Taylor
Advisors: Luke Zoltan Kelley, Claude-André Faucher-Giguère Project: A Numerical Formula Built to Measure Dynamical Friction in Realistic Galactic Environment |
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David Velasco
Advisor: Eric Dahl Project: Characterization of Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) for SBC Experiment |