The Space Center launched its graduate degree program with five students in January 2005 on the Fayetteville campus.  This fall, the program has grown to include 18  students, including five beginning classes this month.  They are listed below.

	Dixie Androes University of Arkansas BS - Earth Science; MS - Geology
	Robert Barrows Rhodes College BS - Physics
	David Blackburn Arkansas Tech University BS - Computer Science
	Obadiah Kegege Univ. of Houston/Univ. of Texas Pan American BS - Engr. Tech.; MS - Elec. Engr.
	Felix Wasiak SUNY Buffalo BS - Mech. Engr. Tech.

The Space Center graduate students recently completed their annual orientation trip.  This year, they travelled around the state of Arkansas.  The trip was led by Space Center graduate students Henry Turner, Dixie Androes, and Kate Coleman, who also produced this year’s field guide.  Space Center faculty members Derek Sears and John Dixon assisted.  The field guide enabled students, including those whose background was not geology, to gain insight into geological processes occuring in Arkansas and how those relate to such processes on planets.  The trip included a stop at the Crater of Diamonds State Park, Crowley’s Ridge, and Village Creek State Park in eastern Arkansas.

A few weeks ago the inductively-coupled plasma, mass spectrometer, arrived from England and is now being installed in specially constructed clean rooms. Laurance Roberts, of Nu Instruments, and the Space Center’s laboratory manager, Walter Graupner, are making very good progress in getting the equipment installed and working.  When he arrives in the new year, the instrument will be the main research equipment for the newest Space Center member Dr. Fang-Zhen Teng who will be a faculty member in Geosciences. His research will concern isotope analysis in terrestrial and extraterrestrial materials.

In order to provide more space for research projects, graduate students have moved out of the Keck Laboratory and into new graduate student office facilities that they designed and constructed under the leadership of student representative on the SPAC faculty meetings, Katie Bryson.  The new facilities provide better conditions and more space, and they enable virtually all of the students in the space and planetary sciences program to interact freely, which is especially important for students taking courses together or on collaborative projects.  We are also creating a common room that will double-up as a small group meeting room where students can relax and take small breaks.

The Center also took possession of a digital projector for the planetarium. The planetarium being constructed in the Center is fast approaching completion due the efforts of Walter Graupner, SPAC student Ahmed El Shafie and a large number of other volunteers.  It had been planned that the Physics department’s 1941 Spitz analog projector would be used in the planet-arium, but with financial help from the Physics department and the Colleges of Business and Engineering, we have been able to purchase a professional grade digital projector similar to that used in many large city commercial planetariums.  We are grateful to SPAC students Katherine Gietzen and Jackie Denson for agreeing to go to Ohio to haul the projector to our campus.

Photo caption:  Walter Graupner and Laurance Roberts in the ICPMS facility

Dan Kennefick, a member of the Space Center and a faculty member in the department of Physics, has published “Traveling at the Speed of Thought: Einstein and the Quest for Gravitational Waves.”

Since Einstein first described them nearly a century ago, gravitational waves have been the subject of more sustained controversy than perhaps any other phenomenon in physics.  These as yet undetected fluctuations in the shape of space-time were first predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity, but only now, are we on the on the brink of finally observing them.

Dr. Kennefick’s book takes readers through the controversies and debates that raged around the subject of gravitational waves after the publication of Einstein’s theory.

Jackie Denson, a Space Center graduate student, and Tim Kral, a member of the Space Center and a faculty member in the department of Biological Sciences, recently attended the Bioastronomy 2007: Molecules, Microbes and Extraterrestrial Life Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, July 14-20.

Denson gave an oral presentation entitled “Sulfate Reduction: A Model for Subsurface Martian Life.”  He works with Dr. Mack Ivey, a member of the Space Center and a faculty member in the department of Biological Sciences.

Dr. Kral presented a poster entitled “Methane Production on Rock and Soil Substrates by Methanogens: Implications for Life on Mars.”  Conference abstracts can be found in the June issue of Astrobiology.  

One of the highlights of the conference was a mid-week tour of the Arecibo Observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, which is the site of the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope.

Photo caption:  Jackie Denson prepares to give his talk.

Space Center graduate students have gone above and beyond with public outreach this summer.  Below are some of the organizations in which the students have presented.  Thanks to all of you for your hard work this summer!

Farmington Library

Robert Pilgrim visited a group of K-4 children at the Farmington Library in Farmington, Ark.  He spoke about general solar system principles, and his presentation had various concepts in which the children could interact.  They asked many interesting questions and were very engaged.

Coleman’s Children’s Academy

Kate Coleman visited a group of K-6 students at Coleman’s Children’s Academy in Springdale, Ark.  She also took along with her one of the Space Center summer REU students, Kelly Howe.

Harp Elementary School

Kathy Gietzen visited a group of K-5 students at Harp Elementary School in Springdale, Ark.  She spoke about general solar system information. 

GT Summer Program

Katie Bryson and Jonathan Craig spent three weeks teaching a class called Exploring Mars for the Summer Institute for Gifted and Talented Scholars.  The Summer Institute is a residential program for students with exceptional academic ability entering the 8th, 9th, and 10th grade.  The class focused on exploring the red planet; from past, present, and future missions to understanding the geology and possibilities for life.  In addition, such topics as terraforming were discussed and debated.  Hands on activities, such as observing regoliths and calibrating radio controlled “rovers” brought Mars exploration into the classroom.  Talks were given by University faculty to provide an idea of what research is done right here in Arkansas on Mars and mission planning.  The students ended the program working in groups to plan their own mission to Mars, which they presented in a conference style poster to their parents at the end of the program.

NCSSSMST Student Symposium

A group of high school students visited the Space Center on June 12 to learn about the Center research.  The students were part of the National Consortium of Specialized Secondary Schools for Mathematics, Science and Technology.  The annual Student Research Symposium is designed to involve students in research and to give students the opportunity to present their research in a conference setting. 

Photo caption:  SPAC graduate student Rob Pilgrim speaks to the group at Farmington Library.

Enabling Exploration: The Lunar Outpost and Beyond
October 1-5, 2007
Lunar and Planetary Institute
Houston, TX
Abstract Deadline: 08/17/07

DPS Meeting
October 7-12, 2007
American Astronomical Society
Orlando, FL
Abstract Deadline: 08/02/07

The Chronology of Meteorites and the Early Solar System
November 5-7, 2007
Lunar and Planetary Institute
Kauai, Hawai’i
Abstract Deadline: 08/03/07

Workshop on Martian Gullies: Theories and Tests
February 4-5, 2008
Lunar and Planetary Institute
Houston, TX
Abstract Deadline: 11/13/07

NASA - Roses 2007
Solicited Research Programs (In order of proposal due date)
 

Walter Graupner, the Space Center Laboratory Manager, has been named Employee of the Year for 2006-2007 by the University of Arkansas.  Walter has been with the Space Center since 2005. 

Walter oversees daily operations of the W.M. Keck Laboratory for Space Simulation, the ICPMS facility, the Spaceflight Instruments Facility, the Thermoluminescence Laboratory, the Wet Laboratory, and the Optical Microsopy Curation Laboratory.

Alumni Jannette and Glen Akridge (both obtained a Ph.D. in cosmochemistry in 1999) recently visited the campus with their children Ashley and Zachery for the rededication of the Chemistry building.

The Akridges were both part of the cosmochemistry group with Dr. Derek Sears, the director of the Space Center and a faculty member in the department of Chemistry/Biochemistry.

Photo caption: Derek Sears (left) with the Akridge family