Article written by Melody Xu for The Daily Northwestern.
“Exploration, people and impact”: These three words propel Northwestern’s Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics according to the organization’s Director of Operations Kari Frank.
Celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, Frank said the center is made up of 160 members, with faculty across 12 different campus departments. CIERA hosts graduate students, undergraduate students and postdoctorates alike to ensure its research is reaching NU and beyond.
CIERA’s impact is not solely achieved through publishing research papers, Frank said — the organization influences the international astronomy community as a whole.
CIERA accomplished that goal last month, when NU officially became a founding partner of the Giant Magellan Telescope, which is launching in the 2030s. It’s the “most powerful telescope on Earth,” according to its website.
“The mount is being built here in Illinois, and it’s really gonna affect our path for the future at CIERA,” Frank said. “This is a multi-decade long thing. This will be the top telescope for 50 years once it goes up.”
The University classifies CIERA as one of its University Research Institutes and Centers, which facilitate cross-disciplinary research rather than existing within a single school.
CIERA’s main purpose is to connect researchers and faculty across the University who work in engineering and science to research astronomy together, Frank said.
Prof. Wen-fai Fong, a CIERA research member who researches why certain space explosions happen, said the center provides her lots of opportunities to meet with new people with fresh ideas.
Fong said CIERA is particularly unique when it comes to attracting researchers because it is interdisciplinary — an uncommon feature of research centers in this field. Fong added that while many of her peers are members of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, there are others who are not in that department but have various research connections.
“That’s what makes us special, compared to other astronomy departments across the country,” Fong said. “CIERA itself … is a really lively place. Down the hallway, there’s always conversations and collaboration.”
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