Undergraduates Study Astronomy and Atmospheric Science During Summer Programs at Arecibo

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/...bo.REU.lg.html

Undergraduates study astronomy and atmospheric science during summer
program at Arecibo

July 20, 2005

Writer: Lauren Gold
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ARECIBO, PUERTO RICO -- Talia Kohen always pictured herself in law
school after college. But she figured that plan left her free to
pursue a bachelor's degree in pretty much anything, so she decided to
indulge her analytical side and spend her undergraduate years
studying electrical engineering.

Somewhere on the way to law school, though, the Cornell University
senior from New York City got sidetracked. And she landed in a
crowded little office on a steep hill in northwestern Puerto Rico,
just a few steps from the world's biggest and most sensitive single
dish radio telescope.

Kohen is one of about a dozen undergraduate students spending this
summer at the Arecibo Observatory, which is run by the National
Astronomy and Ionosphere Center at Cornell University for the
National Science Foundation (NSF). The students are at Arecibo
through the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program, an
NSF program that gives undergraduates from around the world hands-on
experience in radio astronomy, planetary radar astronomy and
atmospheric science (aeronomy). The students, in various majors and
years, are assigned a 10-week project with a staff scientist, and at
the end of the summer they present their results to the observatory
community.

This year, REU students come from schools around the United States,
including the University of Washington, University of Colorado,
University of California-Berkeley, Oberlin College, the State
University of New York at Albany, and universities in Puerto Rico.
They all live onsite, sharing small cabins (like Jodie Foster's cabin
in the movie "Contact") or dormitory rooms. On weekends they explore
the island and sharpen their scuba diving skills.

Many, like Adam Mott, an REU student two years ago and now a Ph.D.
student at Arizona State University, return to the observatory as
graduate students, postdocs or visiting scientists. Mott is back to
study fast-spinning stars called pulsars. He says it is the
opportunity to ask questions -- and to mingle with seasoned
scientists -- that makes REU valuable. "You get to meet people from
all over," he said. "The observations are a small part of it."

Kohen's research project is in aeronomy -- specifically, studying
variations in neutral wind patterns in the thermosphere (a region
around 150 km above the earth's surface). The results could have
important implications for satellite-based communications systems,
which can be disrupted by phenomena in the upper atmosphere.

It's more complex than anything Kohen has done in classes so far, so
she has been reading old papers on the subject, breaking them down
sentence by sentence when she has to. "It's really hard for this
topic," she said. "There doesn't seem to be anything basic or
elementary. But what I've noticed about here is, you can be honest if
you don't know something. It's okay to say 'I don't know everything.'"

Kohen hopes at the end of the summer she will have good results to
offer. "But what's more important is walking away feeling like I
understand the science behind it."

Law school, in the meantime, is still a possibility. But probably not
right away.

"I'll go with this," she said, "and see where it takes me."


Related World Wide Web sites:

Arecibo Observatory: http://www.naic.edu

Research Experience for Undergraduates, National Science Foundation:
http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/reu/start.htm

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