Chevrier, V., Ulrich, R., and T.S. Altheide (2009). Viscosity of Liquid Ferric Sulfate Solutions and Application to the Formation of Gullies on Mars, J. Geophys. Res., 114(E06001), doi: 10.1029/2009/JE003376.

Teng, F.-Z., Rudnick, R. L., McDonough, W.F. and Wu F.-Y. (2009). Lithium isotopic systematics of A-type granites and their mafic enclaves: Further constraints on the Li isotopic composition of the continental crust, Chemical Geology, 262, 415-424.

Fangzhen Teng, a member of the Space Center and a faculty member in the department of Geosciences, will have two post-doctoral scholars working in his laboratory. 

Dr. Wangye Li is a post-doctoral researcher from the School of Earth and Space Sciences at the Univ. of Science and Tech. in China.  He will research Li and Mg isotopic studies of mantle rocks.

Dr. Shan Ke is a lecturer from the School of Earth Science and Mineral Resources at China University of Geosciences.  She will be researching Li and Mg isotopic studies of crustal rocks.

The research at the Isotope Laboratory focuses on using isotopic analyses of terrestrial and extraterrestrial materials to elucidate the processes involved in the origin, formation and evolution of the Earth and the early solar system.

David Blackburn, a Space Center graduate student, is currently working as an intern at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, as part of the NASA Space Grant Program.  He is working for Dr. Bonnie Buratti, an expert in analyzing data from the VIMS (Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectronometer) instrument on-board the Cassini spacecraft.  His internship involves making maps of the icy satellites of Saturn using a software package called ISIS (Integrated Software for Imagers and Spectronomers).  Felix Wasiak, a Space Center graduate student, will be assisting David remotely by working on the Icy Satellites Linux server that will be set up.

To get the award, David wrote a proposal to the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium with Dr. Rick Ulrich, the deputy director of the Space Center and a faculty member in Chemical Engineering.  Dr. Ulrich is also David’s mentor.  The award covers stipend and travel expenses.  David entered the Space Center graduate program in Fall 2007.

Adam Hughes, a Space Center graduate student, recently attended an International Year of Astronomy (IYA) Workshop at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. He is an ambassador for the IYA program. Adam gave a talk about the Space Center planetarium and the importance of creating a connection between the night sky and what people see in the planetarium. He also spoke about the history of the planetarium at the Space Center.

The IYA ambassador program is funded by NASA and operated by the National Space Grant Foundation.

The Freshman Engineering Program recently held its first Honors Research Symposium.  In the Aerospace Systems Track, the team of Tyler Bowman and Trent Chudej won both the Best Paper award and the Best Presentation award for their research “Window Scratch Testing for the Optical Probe for Regolith Analysis (OPRA).”  The team of Preston Boyd and Bailey Moll won the Best Poster award for “Analysis of Potential Ideas for Optical Probe for Regolith Analysis (OPRA)."  Both teams were mentored by Dr. Larry Roe, the director of  the Space Center and a faculty member in the department of Mechanical Engineering.

A 16-inch Cassegrain reflector telescope from the former Droke Observatory here in Fayetteville has been moved to the Space Center for display.  The telescope was originally purchased in 1975 by Carol Webb, the first astronomer in the Physics department at the University of Arkansas. It was paid for using National Science Foundation funds.  The telescope was re-machined and fitted with computer controls in the 1980s by Dr. Claud Lacy, a member of the Space Center and a faculty member in the department of Physics.  It was primarily used for stellar research by Dr. Lacy and his students and for “star parties” with the public.  The telescope fell into disuse in 2000 when the URSA telescope on top of Kimpel Hall on campus became operational.

A group from O Street Academy in Bentonville, Ark., visited the planetarium and worked the show into their learning theme “Shoot the Moon,” where they were learning about rockets and space. 

International Conference on Space Technology
August 24-26, 2009
Thessaloniki, Greece

Mars Dust Cycle Workshop
September 15-17, 2009
Moffett Field, California

International Conference on Asteroid-Comet Hazard 2009
September 21-25, 2009
St. Petersburg, Russia

International Meteor Conference 2009
September 24-27, 2009
Porec, Croatia

41st Annual Meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society
October 4-9, 2009
Fajardo, Puerto Rico

Geological Society of America Annual Meeting
October 18-21, 2009
Portland, Oregon

Workshop on Methan on Mars: Current Observations, Interpretation and Future Plans
November 25-27, 2009
Frascati, Italy