| Student News |
| EPSCoR Annual Meeting |
Space Center graduate students Scott Barrows and Adam Hughes recently attended the Arkansas NSF EPSCoR Annual meeting in Little Rock. They presented a poster for their research group entitled “The Arkansas Galaxy Evolution Survey (AGES): Supermassive Black Holes in the Universe.” Daniel Kennefick, Julia Kennefick, and Claud Lacy, who are members of the Space Center and faculty members in the department of Physics are members of the AGES Research Group, as well as Marc Seigar of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The AGES group works on issues relating to the mass function of supermassive black holes in the Universe.
| REU Alumni News |
| Steven McAllister |
Steven McAllister, a former Space Center REU student in the summer of 2003, recently wrote to the Space Center to let us know how he is doing. His Space Center mentor was Dr. Tim Kral, a member of the Space Center and a faculty member in the department of Biological Sciences. McAllister and Dr. Kral worked with methanogens during his summer at the Space Center. He is now a Ph.D. student at the University of Oregon, working with methanogens in an environmental context.
| Conferences |
| Recent Meetings |
Derek Sears, a member of the Space Center and a faculty member in the department of Chemistry and Bio-chemistry, and Katie Bryson, a Space Center graduate student, recently attended the American Astronomical Society’s Division of Planetary Sciences meeting in Ithaca, New York. Dr. Sears presented an oral entitled “Primitive Materials on Asteroids.” Bryson presented an oral entitled “The Sublimation Rate of CO2 Under Simulated Mars Conditions and the Possible Climatic Implications.”
Vincent Chevrier, an Assistant Research Professor at the Space Center, and Travis Altheide and Patricia Gavin, Space Center graduate students, recently attended the “Workshop on Martian Phyllosilicates: Recorders of Aqueous Processes?” Dr. Chevrier presented an oral entitled “Early Martian Surface Conditions from Thermodynamics of Phyllosilicates.” Altheide presented an oral entitled “Acidic Weathering of Martian Relevant Phyllosilicates.” Gavin presented an oral entitled “Effects of Impact and Heating on the Spectral Properties of Clays on Mars.”
| Center Outreach |
| Space Center Public Lecture |
Dr. Glen Mattioli, a member of the Space Center and a faculty member in the department of Geosciences, recently gave the first Space Center public lecture of the semester. The lecture is part of the Arkansas Public Lectures in Space and Planetary Science. The title of his presentation was “Applications of Satellite Geodesy to Neotectonics and Volcanology: Examples from the Leading and Trailing Edges of the Caribbean Plate.
| Opportunities |
| Postdoctoral Job Openings |
The Department of Astronomy at the University of Maryland, College Park, seeks applications to fill an immediate post-doctoral position in planetary science, in collaboration with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The aim of the research project is to study the lower atmosphere and surface of Saturn’s moon, Titan, using data collected by the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) on the Cassini Saturn orbiter spacecraft. For more information on the position, contact Dr. C.A. Nixon (conor.a.nixon@nasa.gov).
The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) Postdoctoral Scholars Program at JPL invites applications for postdoctoral research positions in Martian atmospheric properties and dynamics. The research will involve analysis and modeling of data collected by the Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) instrument on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Spacecraft. For more information, contact Dr. David M. Kass at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at dkass@jpl.nasa.gov.
| Center Outreach |
| School Visit |
High school students from one of the physics classes at Rogers Heritage High School in Rogers, Ark., recently visited the Space Center for a tour and a planetarium demonstration. Space Center graduate students Kate Coleman, Adam Hughes, Jennifer Hanley, and Kelly Howe, planetarium board members, assisted with the group.
The class was split into two groups and the students were shown the proper motion demonstration in the planetarium. The graduate students also showed the students some of the meteorites at the Space Center. The students asked many engaging questions and were fascinated with the research the Space Center is doing.
| Meetings |
| Upcoming Meetings |
Third International Workshop on the Mars Atmosphere: Modeling and Observations
November 10-13, 2008
Williamsburg, VA
Lunar and Planetary Science Meeting
March 23-27, 2009
The Woodlands, TX