REU
The Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University hosted a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site from 2014 to 2018. During the 10-week summer period, students conducted astronomical research or completed an instrumentation project with Texas A&M faculty and research staff, participated in weekly seminars and group discussions, and attended an observing trip to McDonald Observatory.
Possible fields of study in astronomical research include black holes, supernovae, cosmology, the high-redshift Universe, Dark Energy, the cosmic distance scale, the Milky Way galaxy, and extrasolar planets. Students also worked in the Munnerlyn Astronomical Instrumentation Lab and participated in designing and building astronomical instrumentation to support these fields of research for projects in which Texas A&M University was an institutional member: Giant Magellan Telescope, Hobby Eberly Telescope, Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, and Dark Energy Survey.
Currently the lab hosts the AggieSTAAR program, a similar program for students of Texas A&M University.
REU 2018
Stellar Kinematics of the Galaxy NGC 1270, Satya P. Butler, Jonelle L. Walsh
Modeling 8B Solar Neutrino Detection with CEvNS, Nikko Cleri, Louis E. Strigari
Selection of Milky Way Analogs Using the Dark Energy Survey, Silvana C. Delgado Andrade, Louis E. Strigari, Jennifer L. Marshall, Andrew B. Pace, Katelyn M. Stringer
Measuring Proper Motions of Fornax and its 5 Globular Clusters Using Gaia Data Release 2, Kelsey S. Glazer, Andrew B. Pace, Jennifer L. Marshall, Louis E. Strigari
Photometric Analysis of SN 2018bgz, Sebastian E. Gonzalez, Kevin Krisciunas
Software development of TCal: A mobile spectrophotometric calibration system, Sarah L. Hughes, Peter Ferguson, Jennifer Marshall, Darren DePoy, Luke Schmidt, Travis Prochaska, Erika Cook, Taylor Plattner
IIb or Not IIb: The Photometry of Type IIb Supernovae, Katya A. Leidig, Peter J. Brown
Analysis of RR Lyrae Stars in Milky Way Stellar Streams, Jessica L. Myron, Katelyn M. Stringer, Andrew B. Pace, Jennifer L. Marshall, Louis E. Strigari
Development of pETSI: Prototype Exoplanet Transmission Spectroscopy Imager, Taylor Plattner, Darren DePoy, Luke Schmidt, Mary Anne Limbach, Travis Prochaska, Jennifer L. Marshall, Leo Barba, Sarah Hughes
The Local Volume Database, Liam L. Plybon, John F. Maner, Andrew B. Pace
REU 2017
The Stellar Kinematics of the Galaxy NGC 4203, Mikayla Cleaver, Jonelle Walsh
Photometry of Satellite Galaxies of Milky Way, Niyousha Davachi, Jennifer L. Marshall, Andrew Pace, Katelyn Stringer, Sarah Cantu, Daniel Q. Nagasawa, Louis E. Strigari
Astrocal: a mobile spectrophotometric calibration system, Daniel Freeman, Jennifer L. Marshall, Luke Schmidt, Travis Prochaska, Erika Cook, D. L. DePoy
The MADLaSR: Multi-Angle Detection of Lambertian and Specular Reflectivity, Lawrence E. Gardner, T. Prochaska, L. Schmidt, J. L. Marshall, M. Sauseda
Total Reflectance of Black and White Materials, Doyeon Kim, Luke Schmidt, Jennifer L. Marshall, Travis Prochaska, Marcus Sauseda, D. L. DePoy
Classifying Variable Sources in SDSS Stripe 82, Christina W. Lindberg, James Long, Katelyn Stringer
Comparison of Light Curves for Type Ia Supernovae in the Optical and Ultraviolet, Sarah Parker, Peter Brown
Measuring Radial Velocities of Two Stars in Horologium I, Craig M. Pellegrino, Jennifer L. Marshall, Daniel Q. Nagasawa, Andrew B. Pace, Louis E. Strigari
Slit Mask Design for the Giant Magellan Telescope Multi-object Astronomical and Cosmological Spectrograph, Darius S. Williams, Jennifer L. Marshall, Luke M. Schmidt, Travis Prochaska, Darren L. DePoy
REU 2016
Identifying Galaxy Mergers in the Distant Universe Using the Hubble Space Telescope, Crystal-Lynn Bartier, Courtney Watson, Kim-Vy Tran, Jonathon Monroe
Measuring Stellar Kinematics in the S0 Galaxy NGC 4203, Zuzana Calbo, Jonelle Walsh
Eat Your Veggies: Green Pea Galaxy Abundance at Redshifts of 1.0 - 2.3, Madeline Horn, Casey Papovich
Searching for RR Lyrae Variables in the Dark Energy Survey, Chandler Nielsen, Jennifer L. Marshall, James Long, Katelyn Stringer
Probing the Debris Disks of Nearby Stars with the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, Alexander H. Riley, Louis E. Strigari
Supernova Classification Using Swift UVOT Photometry, Madison Smith, Peter J. Brown
DuOCam: A Two-Channel Camera for Simultaneous Photometric Observations of Stellar Clusters, Emily M. Witt, Erin R. Maier, Darren L. DePoy, Luke M. Schmidt
REU 2015
Front Row (from left): Tarini Konchady, Irene Salazar, Raina Musso, Shaquann Seadrow
Measuring the Stellar Kinematics of the Compact Galaxy NGC 1270, Raina T. Musso, Jonelle L. Walsh
A New Method to Select Lyman Alpha Emitters at Redshift ~ 7, Shaquann S. Seadrow, Brett Salmon, Casey Papovich, James Long
pAggieSpec: A Low-Resolution, Commercial Lens, Optical Spectrograph, James Beck, Gabriel Fuentes, Shae Hart, Timothy Costa, D.L. DePoy
Processing Images from the Hubble Space Telescope and McDonald Observatory, Irene V. Salazar, Kim-Vy Tran
A Search for Astrophysical Transients with a Small-Aperture Telescope, Tarini Konchady, Ryan J. Oelkers, Lucas M. Macri, Colin Wisdom
Searching for Gamma-Ray Emission from Rocky Bodies around Nearby Stars, Darren L. Woodson II, Louis Strigari
REU 2014
Front Row (from left): Jessica Sutter, Austin Baldwin,Katelyn Stringer, Nicholas Mondrick
Contamination Rate of Red Giant Stars From 2MASS Photometric Error, Marisa Sotolongo,Ting Li, J.L. Marshall
The Evolution of Luminous Red Galaxies, Luca Beale, Nicholas Mondrick, Casey Papovich, Ryan Quadri
A Multi-band Extension of the Analysis of Variance Period Finding Algorithm, Nicholas Mondrick, J.L. Marshall, James P. Long
A New Instrument to Measure Nighttime Sky Brightness, Austin Baldwin, D.L. DePoy, Travis Prochaska, D.Q. Nagasawa
A Proper Motion Study of Globular Cluster M71 Using the PPMXL, Alejandro Lorenzo, Kevin Krisciuna
Using the Hubble Space Telescope to Search for Groups of Galaxies in the Distant Universe, Jessica Sutter, Jonathan Monroe, Kim-Vy Tran