Chair:
Richard Rand
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News from the Chair Dominic Oddo Wins $150K NASA Astrophysics Grant
Graduate student Dominic Oddo won a 3 year, $150,000 NASA Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) Astrophysics grant.
Unlike for other NASA grants, the student participant defines the FINESST project and is the primary author of the research proposal. The selection rate for these awards is just 10%.
As a NASA Future Investigator and a member of Diana Dragomir's research group, Dominic will search for planets orbiting pairs of stars (circumbinary planets) using TESS observations.
Congratulations Dominic!
News from the Chair October 14 Annular Eclipse
Thousands of people gathered at UNM's Johnson Field for an eclipse viewing event put on by the department. It featured a wide range of educational activities, an eclipse viewer giveaway, a balloon launch for the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project, and a popular lecture series in PAÍS which included a live projection of the eclipse from our heliostat in Regener.
See the UNM video and event photos . Thanks to countless people for volunteering their time to make this event such a success!
News from the Chair Grant Block Authors Geophysical Research Paper
Pressurizing magma within heterogeneous crust: a case study at the Socorro Magma Body, New Mexico, USA , accepted to the Geophysical Research Letters.
This paper explains how magma in the crust is transported and stored within magma bodies (regions that are mostly liquid magma) and "mush" (mostly solid crystals and some liquid magma). Mush zones are thought to be too viscous to be erupted but are likely to be weaker than the surrounding rock.
Read more .
News from the Chair UNM student recognized by DOE's Science Graduate Student Research Program
This award allows graduate students to perform part of their thesis research at DOE National Laboratories and prepares them to enter jobs of critical importance to the DOE mission and secures our national position at the forefront of discovery and innovation.
As part of this award, Kylar will spend 9 months at Fermilab working with leading experts in theoretical particle physics and cosmology, pushing the frontier of knowledge about the mysteries of the Universe.
See the UNM Newsroom article and the article in the New Mexico Sun . Congratulations, Kylar!
News from the Chair Long Wavelength Array Field Trip
In collaboration with physics students from Hillsdale College in Michigan, on Saturday, September 16, 2023, UNM faculty and students placed metal grates, constructed scaffolds, and positioned sensors for new antennas at the Long Wavelength Array's third station.
Once the third station is completed, the LWA will be able to produce higher resolution images of one of the most poorly studied parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.
The Long Wavelength Array is composed of more than 250 pyramid-shaped antennas close to five feet tall, dispersed across a large area outside Magdalena, New Mexico. It is a low-frequency radio telescope designed to produce high-sensitivity, high-resolution images. This station, combined with others across the globe, allows astronomers the opportunity to learn more about Cosmic Dawn, Active Galaxies, Pulsars, meteors, and the early universe.
See the UNM Newsroom article , photos from the field trip and find out more about the LWA .
News from the Chair Towards a New Campus Observatory
The UNM Campus Observatory has initiated a crowdfunding campaign in an effort to raise funds for the planning of a new Campus Observatory. The current Campus Observatory was built in the 1950s and is now outdated among other concerns.
Read the UNM Newsroom article about the planning for this new facility .
Find out how to donate to our goal .
News from the Chair Job Opportunities at UNM Physics & Astronomy
