Juan E. Cabanela, Ph.D.

Education

• Ph.D. Astrophysics (Minor in Physics), University of Minnesota – August 1999
  • Thesis advisor: Roberta Humphreys
  • Thesis title: Galaxy Properties from a Diameter-limited Catalog
• B.A., with Distinction in Physics, Carleton College – June 1991
• Lourdes High School, Rochester, MN 55901 – June 1987

Academic Appointments

• Professor, Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, Minnesota State University Moorhead (Moorhead, MN) – July 2023 onward
• Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Minnesota State University Moorhead (Moorhead, MN) – July 2013 to June 2023
• Associate Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Minnesota State University Moorhead (Moorhead, MN) – July 2009 to June 2013
• Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Minnesota State University Moorhead (Moorhead, MN) – August 2006 to July 2009
• Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Astronomy, & Engineering Science, Saint Cloud State University (St. Cloud, MN) – August 2003 to July 2006
• Visiting Assistant Professor and Post-Doctoral Researcher, Dept. of Astronomy, Haverford College (Haverford, PA) – July 2001 to July 2003
• Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Astronomy, & Engineering Science, Saint Cloud State University (St. Cloud, MN) – August 1999 to July 2001
• Minnesota Automated Plate Scanner, U of Minnesota (Supervisor: Roberta Humphreys)
  • Project Scientist – March 1998 to July 1999
  • Research Assistant – 1994-98
• Teaching Assistant, U of Minnesota Department of Astronomy
  • Introductory Astronomy Recitation – Spring 1996
  • Upper-Division Observing Lab Assistant – Spring 1994
  • Advanced Astronomy Laboratory – Fall 1993 and Fall 1994
  • Introductory Astronomy Lecturer – Summer 1993
  • Introductory Astronomy Laboratory – 1992-93 Academic Year
• Instructor of Astronomy, Massachusetts Advanced Studies Program – Summer 1991
• Undergraduate Research Assistant, Maria Mitchell Observatory (under Dr. Emilia Belserene) – 1990
• Undergraduate Research Assistant, Iowa State University Dept. of Astronomy (under Dr. Lee Anne Willson) – 1989

Teaching Achievements

• Re-working of Astronomy 102 and 104 labs into self-guided labs for students in Astronomy 100. – 2020-2023
• Development (with students Andrew Louwagie Gordon and Sam Holen) of new Astronomy Interactives for use in Introductory Astronomy courses. – 2018 to 2020
• Development of the Astrophysics emphasis for the Physics major at MSUM including development of new upper-division astrophysics and astrobiology courses. – 2011-12, with revisions in 2017 and 2021.
• Co-development of revised Computational Physics curriculum using python programming language. – 2011 to 2015
• Development for Advanced Lab course of a new statistics component and aiding in the development of a writing-intensive component. – 2008 to 2012
• Complete re-working of Astronomy 102 and 104 labs for MSUM (with Dr. Craig) that resulted in completely new lab manuals and online exercises for the course. – 2007-8
• Recipient of the "Miller Teacher Scholar Award" ($2500) that recognizes "excellence in the areas of teaching and service" among SCSU faculty. – 2005
• Assembled and edited the Physics 231 and Astronomy 106 lab manuals, creating the first complete lab manuals for these SCSU courses. – 2003 and 2005
• Received "Teacher Recognition Award" in March 2000 from SCSU Student Representative Assembly.
• TOPDS, U of MN Doctoral Student Teaching Program (program now called Preparing Future Faculty)– 1995-96 Academic Year
• Primary author of sections of the U of MN Astronomy Dept. introductory astronomy lab manual and author of the advanced astronomy lab manual – 1993-94.

Research-Related Experience

• Programming/Data Analysis Experience using Python, Fortran, C, C++, Perl, PHP, MySQL, and zsh/bash shell script (as well as the defunct AIPS, IDL, IRAF, PGPLOT, and ANALYZ packages) (since 1992)
• Systems Administration Experience: 6 years experience as administrator for ~20 computers in a mixed IRIX, SunOS, Solaris, and Linux computer environment. Significant experience maintaining Mac, Windows, and Linux computers.
• Helped in development of data processing software for MSUM Feder Observatory (involved Python programming and extensive use of Numpy, SciPy, and Astropy packages) – 2015 through 2023
• Development of the E-SPECROAD data reduction package for reduction of Hectospec Multi-fiber Spectra. – Summer 2008 through 2015
• 5 nights total time on Hydra multi-fiber spectrometer at the CTIO 4.0-m telescope – April 2008
• 17 nights total time on Hectospec multi-fiber spectrometer at the MMTO 6.5-m telescope on Mt. Hopkins – May 2007 through September 2009
• 12 nights total wide-field imaging at the CTIO 1-m – April 2006 and October 2007 (rescheduled 2008)
• 130 hours cumulative observing time at the 305 meter Arecibo Radio Observatory - August 1998 through November 2002.
• 115 hours cumulative observing time at the U of Arizona Steward Observatory (formerly NRAO) 12 meter millimeter-wave telescope on Kitt Peak – February 2001 through July 2002
• Development of the MAPS Catalog of the POSS I, a digital archive of astronomical data for 89 million objects in the night sky, and online database versions of that catalog – 2000-1
• Attended the NRAO-NAIC Summer School on Single-Dish Astronomy at the Arecibo Radio Observatory -- June 2001.
• 1 week observing run at Burrell Schmidt telescope, Kitt Peak National Observatory -1994

Community Contributions

• Over 100 newspaper, radio, and television interviews with local (Fargo-Moorhead) media outlets (2006 to present)
• Textbook Reviewer for
  • Reviewed book proposal for general public book on Astrobiology for Springer-Verlag (Spring 2020)
  • Reviewed book proposal for text book on Astrobiology for Springer-Verlag (Fall 2019)
  • College Physics, Third Edition by Freedman [MacMillian] (Spring 2020)
  • At Play in the Cosmos, Second Edition by Frank [Norton] (Fall 2019)
  • At Play in the Cosmos by Frank [Norton] (Summer 2016) [Reviewer and Online Interactive Question Bank Author]
  • Investigating Astronomy by Slater and Freedman [Freeman] (Summer 2012)
  • 21st Century Astronomy, Third Edition by Hester, Burstein, Blumenthal, Greley, Smith, Voss, and Wegner [Norton] (Summer 2009)
  • 21st Century Astronomy, Second Edition by Hester, Burstein, Blumenthal, Greley, Smith, Voss, and Wegner [Norton] (December 2005)
  • In Quest of the Universe, Fifth Edition by Kuhn and Koupelis [Jones and Barlett] (October 2005)
  • Discovering Astronomy, Fifth Edition by Shawl, Hufnagel & Ashman [Kendall/Hunt Publishing] (December 2004)
  • Astronomy: A Beginner’s Guide to the Universe, Fourth Edition by Chaisson and McMillian [Prentice Hall Press] (January 2003)
  • Life in the Universe by Bennett, Shostak, and Jakosky [Addison Wesley and Bejamin Cummings Press] (January 2002)
• Aided the American Astronomical Society Public Policy office in developing a Congressional Directory on the web to allow society members to contact their members of Congress. – 1997 to 2005
• Topical physics and astronomy talks to Twin Cities, Saint Cloud, and Moorhead area schools (K-12) (including in Spanish to Spanish Immersion students) – (1992 - present).
• Guest science advisor for the PBS childrens' science series Newton's Apple – 1993, 1998

Additional Personal Information

• Citizenship: United States
• Fluent in Spanish

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Publications and Research Grants List for Juan Cabanela

Publications in Refereed Journals

• “Mapping the Asymmetric Thick Disk: III. The Kinematics and Interaction with the Galactic Bar”, Humphreys, R.M, Beers, T.C., Cabanela, J.E..,Grammer, S., Davidson, K., Lee, Y.-S., and Larsen, J.A.. 2011, AJ, 141, 131.
• “Mapping the Asymmetric Thick Disk: II Distance, Size and Mass of the Hercules Thick Disk Cloud”, Larsen, J.A.., , Cabanela, J.E.., and Humphreys, R.M. 2011, AJ, 141, 130.
• “Mapping the Asymmetric Thick Disk. I. A Search for Triaxiality”, Larsen, J.A., Cabanela, J.E., Humphreys, R.M., and Haviland, A.P. 2010, AJ, 139, 348.
• “Mapping the Asymmetric Thick Disk: The Hercules Thick Disk Cloud”, Larsen, J.A., Humphreys, R.M., and Cabanela, J.E., 2008, ApJL, 687, L17.
• “The Automated Plate Scanner Catalog of the Palomar Sky Survey. II. The Archived Database”, Cabanela, J.E., Humphreys, R.M., Aldering, G., Larsen, J.A., Odewahn, S.C., Thurmes, P.M., and Cornuelle, C.S. 2003, PASP, 115, 837.
• "So what IS the Astronomy Major?", Cabanela, J.E. and Partridge, B. 2003, Astronomy Education Review, 1(2), Article 4.
• "Galaxies on the Blue Edge", Cabanela, J.E. and Dickey, J.M. 2002, AJ, 124, 78.
• "The FIRST Bright Quasar Survey. II. 60 Nights and 1200 Spectra Later," White, R.L., Becker, R.H., Gregg, M.D., Laurent-Muehleisen, S.A., Brotherton, M.S., Impey, C.D., Petry, C.E., Chaffee, F., Richards, G., Oegerle, W.R., Helfand, D.J., McMahon, R.G., and Cabanela, J.E. 2000, ApJS, 126, 133.
• "Determination of Galaxy Spin Vectors in the Pisces-Perseus Supercluster with the Arecibo Telescope", Cabanela, J.E. and Dickey, J. 1999, AJ, 118, 46.
• "Galaxy Alignments in the Pisces-Perseus Supercluster – Revisited," Cabanela, J.E. and Aldering, G. 1998, AJ, 116, 1094.
• "Examination of the Complicated Cepheid HR7308," Cabanela, J.E. 1991, JAAVSO, 20, 54.

Invited Papers/Talks

• "How a Professor at a Small Non-Research University Keeps Busy..." Cabanela, J.E., at University of North Dakota Physics and Astrophysics Colloquium, November 1, 2019.
• "The Hercules Thick Disk Cloud: The Closest Galaxy to Earth?", Cabanela, J.E., at University of North Dakota Physics and Astrophysics Colloquium, January 29, 2010.
• "Mapping the Asymmetric Thick Disk - the Hercules Thick Disk Cloud", Larsen, J.A., Humphreys, R.M., and Cabanela, J.E. at the The Milky Way and the Local Group - Now and in the Gaia Era Conference (August 31 - September 4, 2009, Heidelberg, Germany)
• "High-frequency Spectra of Extreme GPS and Rising-spectrum Radio Sources", Guerra, E. J. , Cabanela, J., Partridge, R. B. , & Myers, S. 2003, in Future Directions in High Resolution Astronomy: A Celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the VLBA, ASP Conference Series, Vol. 340, eds. Jonathan D. Romney and Mark J. Reid, 89.
• "Mining Astronomical Databases", Humphreys, R.M., Cabanela, J.E. and Kriessler, J. 2001, in Data Mining for Scientific and Engineering Applications ed. Kamath, C., Kegelmeyer, P., Kumar, V., and Namburu, R. (Kluwer Academic Press).
• "The New Luyten Proper Motion Survey," Humphreys, R.M., Cornuelle, C.S., Larsen, J.A., Aldering, G., and Cabanela, J.E. 1997, in Proper Motions and Galactic Astronomy, ASP Conference Series, Vol. 127, ed. Roberta M. Humphreys, 41.
• "The APS Catalog of the POSS I, Image Database, and Luyten Proper Motion Catalog," Cornuelle, C.S., Aldering, G., Humphreys, R.M., and Cabanela, J.E. 1997, in Proper Motions and Galactic Astronomy, ASP Conference Series, Vol. 127, ed. Roberta M. Humphreys, 55.

Other Publications

• "Introductory Astronomy Interactives Developed with Undergraduates" Cabanela, J.E., Louwagie Gordon, A., and Holen, S. 2019, BAAS 231, #257.06
• "A Kinematic Asymmetry and Interaction with the Galactic Bar," Humphreys, R.M, Beers, T.C., Cabanela, J.E..,Grammer, S., Davidson, K., Lee, Y.-S., and Larsen, J.A. 2011, BAAS 217, #241.10
• "Mapping the Asymmetric Thick Disk: II. Kinematics of the Hercules Thick Disk Cloud," Cabanela, J.E., Grammer, S. H., Humphreys, R.M, Larsen, J.A., Beers, T.C., and Lee, Y. S. 2010, BAAS 215, #413.03
• "Mapping the Asymmetric Thick Disk: I. Field Star Distributions of the Hercules Thick Disk Cloud," Larsen, J.A.,Humphreys, R.M., and Cabanela, J.E. 2010, BAAS 215, #413.02
• "Continuing Studies of the Hercules Thick Disk Cloud," Haviland, A., Larsen, J.A., Humphreys, R. M.,and Cabanela, J. E. 2009, BAAS 213, #401.03
• "Mapping the Asymmetric Thick Disk: A Search for Triaxiality" Cabanela, J.E., Larsen, J.A., and Humphreys, R.M. 2007, BAAS 211, #14.16
• "The Dust Content of a Quarter Million SDSS DR4 Galaxies," Cabanela, J.E., Sidhu, S.K., and Bennett, W.J. 2006, BAAS 207, #64.18.
• "The Dust Content of SDSS DR3 Spirals," Cabanela, J.E., Sidhu, S.K., and Bennett, W.J. 2005, BAAS 206, #13.09.
• “Describing Internal Extinction in External Galaxies: A Statistical Approach,” Sidhu, S.K. and Cabanela, J. E. 2003, BAAS 204, #114.08.
• “The Effects of Environmental Density on Galaxy Properties: Extension to the Low Surface Brightness Extreme,” Cabanela, J. E. and Roscioli, M. 2003, BAAS 204, #91.08.
• “High-Frequency Flux of Extreme GPS & Rising-Spectrum Sources,” Partridge, R. B., Cabanela, J. E., Guerra, E. J., and Myers, S. 2003, IAU 25th Meeting (Sydney).
• "Radio/Optical Study of Extreme GPS and Rising-Spectrum Sources," Partridge, R. B., Cabanela, J. E., Myers, S., and Guerra, E. J. 2003, BAAS 202, #18.02
• "The Distribution of Low Surface Brightness Galaxies in the Pisces-Perseus Supercluster," Cabanela, J.E. and Roscioli, M.B. 2003, BAAS 201, #14.20.
• "Single-epoch Radio Spectra of VLA-FIRST/GB6 Inverted-spectrum Radio Sources," Guerra, E.J., Myers, S.T., Partridge, R.B., & Cabanela, J.E. 2002, BAAS 199, #7.10.
• "Deep CO Observations of Four LSBs," Cabanela, J.E., Womack, M., & Dickey, J. M. 2002, BAAS 199, #130.08.
• "Accessing, Mining, and Archiving an On-line Database," Humphreys, R.M., Cabanela, J.E. and Kriessler, J. 2000, BAAS 197, #116.06.
• "A Successful Automated Search for Crouching Giants," Cabanela, J.E. and Dickey, J.M. 2000, BAAS 197, #76.01.
• "Internal Extinction from a Diameter-limited Catalog", Cabanela, J.E. 1999, BAAS, 195, #21.02.
• "Galaxy Properties from a Diameter-limited Catalog", Cabanela, J.E. 1999, Ph.D. Thesis University of Minnesota.
• "The FIRST Bright Quasar Survey. II. 60 Nights and 1200 Spectra Later", Becker, R. H.; White, R. L.; Gregg, M. D.; Laurent-Muehleisen, S. A.; Brotherton, M. S.; Impey, C. D.; Petry, C. E.; Chaffee, F.; Richards, G.; Oegerle, W. R.; Helfand, D. J.; McMahon, R. G.; Cabanela, J. E. 1998, BAAS, 193, #107.02.
• "Galaxy Spin Vector Alignments in the Pisces-Perseus Supercluster", Cabanela, J.E. and Dickey, J.M. 1998, BAAS, 193, #02.15.
  [NOTE: Updated Results in Cabanela and Dickey 1999, AJ, 118, 46.]
• "Over a Quarter Million Galaxies at the North Galactic Pole," Cabanela, J.E. and Humphreys, R.M. 1998, BAAS, 192, #55.19.
• "The New APS Catalog of the POSS I," Kriessler, J.R., Humphreys, R.M., Cabanela, J.E., Rees, R.F., Ngo, H., and Srivastava, J. 1998, BAAS, 192, #55.09.
• "The APS Catalogs of the POSS I - New Data and New Tools," Cornuelle, C.S., Ngo, H., Srivastava, J., Rees, R., Kriessler, J.R., Humphreys, R.M., and Cabanela, J.E. 1997, BAAS, 191, #16.07.
• "The WWW Database of APS POSS Images," Cornuelle, C.S., Aldering, G., Sourov, A., Humphreys, R.M., Larsen, J.A, and Cabanela, J.E. 1997, New Horizons from Multi-Wavelength, Sky Surveys, Proceedings of the 179^th IAU Symposium, ed. Brian McLean, 467.
• "Determination of Galaxy Alignments in the Pisces-Perseus Supercluster," Cabanela, J.E. and Aldering, G. 1994, BAAS, 185, #55.07.
• "Galaxy Alignments in the Pisces-Perseus Supercluster," Cabanela, J.E. and Aldering, G. 1994, BAAS, 184, #62.08.
• "Monitoring A Complicated Cepheid," Cabanela, J.E. 1991, Robotic Observatories: Present and Future (Mesa, AZ: Fairborn Press), 317.

Grants Awarded

• 19A Research Grant: “The M1 Continuum Monitoring Project, 2019-20, $1000
• Funding from the College of Science, Health, and the Environment Dean's office for summer salary for two students for "Astronomy Laboratory Application Development Project", 2018, $9448
• Julena Steinheider Duncombe Grant (AAS Mini-Grants) "An Eclipse for Everyone: Engaging the Fargo-Moorhead Community in the Great American Eclipse" (with Sara Schultz), 2017, $5000
• MNSCU Designed for Learning Grant "Reaching the Stars: A Learner-Centered Redesign of Introductory Astronomy" (with Dr. Matthew Craig), 2007-8, $24,858.93
• SCSU University Assessment Committee Grant (with Aparna Gupta, Kevin Haglin, Maria Womack, and Sneh Kalia), 2005, $2000
• SCSU Sponsored Programs Matching Grant (match to NSF Grant), 2005, $4500
• PI  (with Roberta Humphreys at U Minnesota and Jeff Larsen at US Naval Academy), NSF Astronomy Division – Galactic Astronomy Program, “RUI: Collaborative Research to Map the Asymmetric Thick Disk”, 2005-8, $95,451 (Cabanela Group), $362,315 (Total Project Award)
• Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium, 2003, ~$3000 toward summer stipend of student.
• American Astronomical Society Small Research Grant, “The Spatial Distribution of LSBs in the Pisces-Perseus Supercluster”, 2003, $3224
• Haverford College Louis Green Travel Fund, “Travel to Arecibo for Observations of Low Surface Brightness Galaxies”, 2002, $450
• Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium, 2002, ~$3000 toward summer stipend of student.
• Travel Grant to Attend Arecibo Single Dish Summer School, 2001, $700
• Co-I, NASA Applied Information Systems Research Program Grant, “Enhancing and Archiving the APS Catalog of the POSS I”, 2000-2, $233,388 (Total Project Award)
• SCSU Foundation Grant, “Internal Extinction from a Diameter-Limited Catalog”, 1999, $500

Students Supervised

• Deep Kafley, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Class of 2021
  
  • I worked with Deep on the development on modeling and testing of a small vortex hydroelectric generator. This was done remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Ravindra Regmi, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Class of 2021
  
  • I worked with Ravindra to model and then experimentally verify the behavior of various pulley systems as compared to the model. This was done remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Abel Eshete, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Class of 2020
  
  • I worked with Abel on developing a mathematical representation of the motion of a particle around a Black Hole using the Einstein Field Equations and .
• Erin Aadland, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Class of 2018
  
  • I worked with Erin to identify and quantify issues with cosmic ray observations from her summer REU project as part of her senior project. She is now a graduate student in astronomy at Northern Arizona University
• Abel Tilahun, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Class of 2016
  
  • I worked with Abel on his senior project modeling an exoplanet in orbit around a binary star system using Python.
• Beau Scheving, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Class of 2015
  
  • I worked with Beau on his senior project on "Remote Sensing of Bakken Oil Flares." His work was featured in the Alumni magazine for MSUM.
• Meredith McLinn, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Class of 2014
  
  • I worked with Meredith on her senior project on "Source Extraction for Astronomical Images." Meredith was a double major in Physics and Computer Science and has now left for the greener pastures of the tech industry!
• Aaron Peterson, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Class of 2013
  
  • I helped Aaron (along with Dr. Craig) with his senior project on determining the period of the variable star V440 Lacertae along with being his academic advisor his time as MSUM. Aaron is now a pilot for the United States Air Force.
• Hollee Johnson, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Class of 2013
  
  • I helped Hollee (although she mostly worked with Dr. Craig) with her senior project on determining the period of the variable star EY UMa. She left academia and has gone on to work at Amazon as a programmer,
• Shouvik Bhattacharya, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Class of 2013
  
  • I helped Shouvik (although he mostly worked with Dr. Craig) with his senior project on determining the period of an RR Lyra star in order to estimate its distance. Shouvik is a graduate student in Physics at the University of Strathclyde in the UK (as of Spring 2017).
• Steven Ruckdaschel, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Class of 2012
  
  • I worked with Steve on his senior project on using the "Microsoft Kinnect as an Instructional Tool in Physics." Steve was a double major in Physics and Computer Science and has now left for the greener pastures of the tech industry! He is now an engineer at Optum.
• Murshid Saqlain, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Class of 2012
  
  • Murshid spent the summer of 2009 reducing data from the Hectospec multifiber spectrometer on the MMT 6.5-meter using my External SPECROAD pipeline. He also finished some of the final spectral data reductions for data from the Hydra multifiber spectrometer at the CTIO 4-meter. He was basically just trying to understand how multifiber spectroscopy works and how the data is reduced.
• Devin Kasper, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Class of 2011
  
  • Devin spent the summer of 2008 being a "line monkey" (his words) reducing data from the Hydra multifiber spectrometer at the CTIO 4-meter. His specific goal was to help develop the pipeline for reducing the stellar spectra to determine velocities of stars in the thick disk as related to our Thick Disk Asymmetry project. He went on to work at the National Solar Observatory REU the following summer and transferred to the University of Wisconsin Madison. Devin left academia and went on as an Engineer, eventually getting an MBA to Yale and becoming an associate at McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm.
• Heather Cegla, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Class of 2010
  
  • I helped Heather complete her senior project of developing a pipeline for processing VYSOS 5 optical imaging data from the University of Hawai'i VYSOS 5 camera. Heather was also a recipient of the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship in Spring of 2009. Heather Cegla subsequently obtained her Ph.D. from Queen's University in Belfast in Fall 2013. She is currently a UKRI Future Leader Fellow at the University of Warwick.
• Fenner Colson, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Class of 2010
  
  • Fenner spent the summer of 2007 developing some perl scripts for use in data mining the SDSS data for stellar streams and for comparison to our MAPS Catalog and other data related to the Asymmetric Thick Disk project..
• Joshua Swanson, St. Cloud State University, Class of 2008 and Laura Broaded, Butler University, Class of 2007 (I had partial supervision of Laura, who was a U of Minnesota REU Summer student)
  
  • Josh and Laura spent the summer of 2006 reducing images taken at the Y4KCam on the 1.0-m at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Specifically he worked with me to develop the software for reducing almost 1000 raw 16 megapixel images in four bandpasses (U, B, V, and R) and turning it into photometric information on all the stars in those images. Josh completed a post-doc in particle physics at Brown University and now works for Intel.
• Wendy Bennett, Drake University, Class of 2006
  • Wendy was a volunteer researcher for me in the summer of 2004.  She spent one day a week working on extending Supreet Sidhu’s research by modifying her code to work the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 2. She has since obtained a Masters in astronomy at Iowa State University.
• Supreet Sidhu, Swarthmore College, Class of 2005
  • Supreet spent the summer of 2003 examining the problem of determining the distribution of dust in external galaxies. This was done by obtaining isophotal magnitudes and diameters for ~90,000 galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (Data Release 1). Analysis is ongoing, but her analysis of these observations showed the feasibility of a statistical determination of the level of internal extinction in external galaxies. She is now a college instructor at Washington College.
• Megan B. Roscioli (now Megan B. Gralla), Haverford College, Class of 2005
  • Megan performed supervised research investigating the nature of the ISM of Low Surface Brightness galaxies and their distribution relative to Large-Scale Structure. This included making millimeter observations with the Kitt Peak 12 meter of several LSBs and radio observations at the Arecibo 305 meter. She reduced the data from these projects to publication quality. Megan was also a recipient of the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship in Spring of 2003. She moved on to become a graduate student in astrophysics at the University of Chicago, getting her Ph.D. in 2011. She is currently a Senior Research Associate at the University of Arizona.
• Martin Mudd, Williams College, Class of 2004
  • Marty was a summer student at Haverford in the summer of 2002. His research project focused on attempting to isolate stars tidally striped from globular clusters from foreground stars in the same field using the Minnesota Automated Plate Scanner Catalog of the POSS I. The project was not a “success” in that we discovered the color resolution of photographic plates was not sufficient to isolate the streams, but he did an excellent job in testing the concept. Marty went on to do Teach for America and current runs the Adventure Unschool in Kentucky.