Student-Faculty Research
Astronomy students at Western have the unique opportunity to travel with faculty to the National Undergraduate Research Observatory (NURO), near Flagstaff, Arizona to collect data for their personal research projects. NURO, a consortium of universities of which Western is a charter member, operates the 31-inch telescope on Anderson Mesa jointly with Lowell Observatory. Projects begun at NURO can lead to senior theses and publications.
Recent student researches at NURO include:
- Multicolor imaging of interacting galaxies
- Photometry of semiregular pulsating variables
- Search for supernovae in distant galaxies
- Light curves of blazars
- Measurement of the evaporation rate of stars in open clusters
- Light curves and period changes in close eclipsing binary systems
Students can present the results of research projects at conferences such as the National Conferences on Undergraduate Research (NCUR), held each spring at different host institutions and attended by more than 2,000 students and faculty advisors. Attending the NCUR conferences gives students opportunities to discuss their projects with people from other institutions and to have research papers published in the refereed Conference Proceedings.
Some NCUR publications by Western students and graduates:
- Survey of Long Period Semi-Regular Variable Stars (Jose Herrero)
- Cross-Correlations of 2D-Frutti Spectra in Determining Radial Velocities for F and G Stars at the South Galactic Pole (Donald Platt)
- CCD Surface Photometry of Active and Interacting Galaxies (Jennifer Howald)
- BVRI Photometry of G Dwarf Stars towards the North Galactic Pole (Robert Lanczycki)
- Spectrophotometric Analysis of F and G Stars at the Galactic Poles (Donald Platt)
- Photometric Studies of Light Pollution in Connecticut (Michael Sembos)
- Observation and Modeling of the Eclipsing Binary RW Comae Berenices (Sandra Cvanciger, Michael Dyer, Christopher Lazzaro, Danielle Mancuso)
