Students from CIERA’s summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program presented their research projects from summer 2023 at the 243rd American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting. The conference was held January 7-11 with the High Energy Astrophysics and Historical Astronomy Divisions in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Directed by CIERA Professor Aaron Geller, the REU program focuses on helping students build interdisciplinary connections through research. Students learn computer programming, develop skills in science communication, take educational field trips, learn about career opportunities and collaborate with faculty on research projects. The previous year’s REU students presented their projects at the 241st AAS meeting in Seattle.
The winter meeting of the AAS is the largest gathering of American astronomers each year and includes many opportunities for networking. “Attending AAS meetings is so important for early career scientists like our REU students,” said Prof Geller. “It’s a chance for them to see the breadth and depth of current astronomy research, meet new colleagues and potential future employers, and connect with the broader astronomical community. Our students gave amazing poster presentations and made the most out of their meeting.”
The students presented the following posters:
Sebastian BanaszakUniversity of Wisconsin – Madison (Astronomy, Physics, Actuarial Science), Senior
Advisor: Caitlin Witt & Adam Miller
Project: Quasars with Periodic Variability: Bayesian Search for Supermassive Black Holes
Bell third from right
Illinois Institute of Technology (Astronomy), Junior
Advisor: Charlie Kilpatrick & Wen-fai Fong
Project: Type II Supernovae and Their Binary Companion Stars
Haverford College (Physics), Senior
Advisor: André de Gouvêa
Project: Time-Invariance Violation of Neutrino Oscillations
Illinois Institute of Technology (Astronomy), Senior
Advisor: Elvira Mulyukova
Project: Habitable, Stable Climates with Different Tectonic Regimes
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Physics), Sophomore
Advisor: Vishal Baibhav & Vicky Kalogera
Project: Efficiently Exploring Rare Binaries with Adaptive Importance Sampling
Gonzales on far left
Welseyan University (Astronomy, Physics), Senior
Advisor: Claude-André Faucher-Giguère
Project: Building and Characterizing a Comprehensive Library of High-z Star Formation Histories
Guerrero on left
Vassar College (Astronomy), Senior
Advisors: Jason Wang
Project: Worlds Apart: Characterizing the Orbit of Sub-Stellar Object GQ Lup B
Lake Forest College (Physics, Studio Art), Junior
Advisors: Seth Gossage & Vicky Kalogera
Project: Data Visualization Aids in Understanding the Stellar Evolution of Binary Stars
Loyola University Chicago (Physics, Math), Junior
Advisor: Aaron Geller & Anna Childs
Project: Searching for Tidal Tails in the Open Cluster M35
Illinois Institute of Technology (Astronomy, Physics), Junior
Advisor: Aaron Geller & Anna Childs
Project: Exotic Stars in N-Body Models
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Physics), Senior
Advisor: Alvin Bayliss
Project: Nonlinear Crowding Effects in Cyclically Competing Ecological Communities
Lewis University (Physics), Senior
Advisor: Aaron Geller & Anna Childs
Project: Ages of Normal and Blue Lurker Stars in Open Cluster M67