NSF Graduate Fellowships
Physics faculty members aren’t the only ones winning prestigious awards from the National Science Foundation (see Seven in Seven). Physics alumni Brandon Barker and Chima McGruder have won 2019 NSF Graduate Research Fellowships to support their astrophysics studies. The program offers three years of support during a five-year fellowship for outstanding graduate students pursuing NSF research interests. Barker and McGruder are working in astrophysics research at Michigan State University and Harvard University, respectively.
UT Class of 2019
Michigan State University
Graduate Program in Astrophysics
I am now an astrophysics graduate student at Michigan State University working with Dr. Sean Couch. My fellowship will support my investigations into nucleosynthesis in core-collapse supernovae. After the onset of the explosion, a “wind” of material powered by neutrino emission flows off the proto-neutron star, and this material is a site for element production, possibly even part of the r-process responsible for some of the heavy elements. I will be making substantial improvements to the FLASH core-collapse supernova simulation code and investigating the nature of nucleosynthesis in the neutrino driven winds. Subsequently, this will allow for simulation of the full suite of multimessenger signals from core-collapse supernovae—electromagnetic, neutrino, and gravitational waves—with new precision. Ultimately, this will bring us closer to the explosion mechanism of core-collapse supernovae and help us to understand the sources of the chemical enrichment of the universe.
UT Class of 2017
Harvard University
Graduate Program in Astrophysics
I am part of A.C.C.E.S.S. (the Arizona CfA Carnegie Católica Exoplanet Spectroscopic Survey): a huge collaboration aimed to produce a large homogeneous exoplanet spectroscopic dataset. The spectra of exoplanets (planets outside of our solar system) can be obtained by observing a planet in a range of wavelengths as it passes in front of its host star (transits). In such an event, the molecules present in the planet’s atmosphere absorb the star’s light at different wavelengths depending on the specific molecules present. Thus, the more abundant a molecule, the more the planet absorbs, which allows us to determine its atmospheric composition. Once we obtain the composition of a statistically significant amount of planets we can use that data to determine trends of planet chemistry and physics based on a variety of physical parameters such as planet radius, mass, distance from the host star, etc.
My job is to observe multiple Hot Jupiters: planets with similar mass to Jupiter but very close to their host stars. The Hot Jupiters I am observing have similar physical parameters, but fundamentally different observable features: some of them form clouds in the upper atmosphere and others do not. I’d like to determine what chemistry/physics is causing these different structures. This is important because the formation of clouds in the planet’s upper atmosphere prevents astronomers from observing the molecular structure of the planet. Understanding what causes clouds to form should help astronomers screen which planets’ spectra are worth thoroughly studying, as well as provide insight to extreme climate atmospheric chemistry/physics.