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Students are inducted in Physics Honor Society

Congratulations to UTB's inagural members of Sigma Pi Sigma, the national physics honor society. UTB and UTPA physics students were inducted in a ceremony on May 3rd at UTPA's Ccostal Studies Laboratory on South Padre Island.

According to the organization's website, Sigma Pi Sigma; "... exists to honor outstanding scholarship in physics; to encourage interest in physics among students at all levels; to promote an attitude of service of its members towards their fellow students, colleagues, and the public;to provide a fellowship of persons who have excelled in physics."

Dr. Steven Tidrow, Associate Dean of the college of Science and Mathematics at UTPA and Sigma Pi Sigma advisor, led the ceremony, and noted that these were the first Sigma Pi Sigma inductions since 1969. The society of Physics Students organizations from both universities cooperated to arrange the ceremony. The Sigma Pi Sigma chapter at UTPA agreed to include the UTB students.

Seven graduate students and one undergradute student from UTB were inducted, and three undergraduates from UTPA were inducted.

Formal Presentation of Experimental Labs

The Optics and Nanophotonics Laboratory and the Advanced Nanoscience Laboratory have transformed the physics research that takes place at the University of Texas at Brownsville. The impact if these facilities was emphasized in a formal public ceremony that took place on April 25th in SETB. The College of Science, Math, and Technology Advisory Board and members of the community toured the labs as part of the ceremony.

Since its inception the department has been well known for research in theoretical physics, and now the labs have garnered attention for world-class research in applied physics as well. Dr. Karen Martirosyan, director of the nanoscience lab noted, "the total funding in support of the nanoscience lab and its operation is approximatly $1 million from primarily federally funded sources. There are currently eight ongoing projects, and there are ten undergraduate students, three graduate students, and one visiting scholar working in the lab. The research team has had 33 peer-reviewed research papers published and has made 37 presentations at scientific confrences."

Work preformed in the Advanced Nanoscience Lab has applications in a vareity of areas. "We are conducting theoretical and experimental research to understand and control the properties of nanostructured systems, which can bring novel technologies to the marketplace, and will help to solve major challenges in sustainable energy, enviromental protection, national security, and human health." Explained Dr. Martirosyan

One of the major goals of research performed in the Optics and Nanophotonics Laboratory is to discover how light interacts with materials at the smallest levels. According to Dr. malik Rakhmanov, who leads nanophotonic research at UTB, nanophotonics bridges the gap between material science and nanotechnology. in addition to revealing the fundamental physics, this work has applications in the telecommunications and computer industries.

Much of Dr. Volker Quetschke's research has been focused on the stabalization of the frequency and intensity of powerful lasers. Both Dr. Quetschke and Dr. Rakhmanov are performing research on micro-toridal resonators, devices that would be used in intergrated silicon circuits. This work is funded by the Department of Defense. They wish to investigate the interactions of light with these components.

UTB Physics Alum Awarded NSF Graduate Fellowship

Shortly after receiving his BS in physics from UTB Sergio Cantu was awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship. This prestigious fellowship ``supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions," according to the NSF website.

"Everything that I have been able to accomplish would not have been possible without the support and resources that I was given from the physics department at UTB. Not only did I take my first real physics class at UTB, but I also had my first research experience there. The way I see it, everything you do builds on top of your previous work, and I am glad to know that I have such a strong support from people back at UTB," Sergio explained.

The fellowship will provide Sergio with a three-year annual stipend of $30,000 and $10,500 for tuition and fees. He currently attends the Massachusetts Institute of Technology working in atomic, molecular and optical physics.

When he was at UTB Sergio performed undergraduate research with Dr. Malik Rakhmanov, and he played an active role in developing the department's optics and nano-photonics lab. ``I am really happy about this," -- says Dr. Rakhmanov -- ``it proves again that coming from a small University is not an obstacle if the student really likes physics and is willing to work hard. At UTB we have truly unusual opportunities to engage undergraduate students in research very early in their careers."

In 2009 his research poster received the top undergraduate award from the Optical Society of America at a national conference. During his senior year Sergio was president of the UTB chapter of the Society of Physics Students.

Sergio's application was helped by letters of support from UTB Professors M. Rakhmanov, M. Diaz, and S. Mohanty. Sergio was Dr. Mohanty's teaching assistant in the course Elementary Physics with Videogames, and they authored a paper (linked here) about this innovative way to teach physics.

Graduate Student named Outstanding Female International Student

Congratulations to physics graduate student Liliana Ruiz-Diaz for being named the Outstanding Female International Student by the Office of Global Engagement. She was awarded a plaque and scholarship on March 8 as part of the International Women's Day observance. Liliana was chosen from among 17 women who were nominated by faculty members.

I feel really happy for this recognition because I am representing a very narrow group, foreign female students working in the physical sciences. I think that this type of award encourages women to exceed expectations, said Liliana. She continued, I am very grateful to the Office of Global Engagement for this award and also to my advisor, Dr. Malik Rakhmanov, for nominating me.

Dr. Rakhmanov, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, observed, Liliana doesn't just study to get a degree -- she wants to become a scientist. He believes that Liliana’s accomplishments can serve as an example to other students. I would say the important point here is to believe in your own abilities. I often tell the students that they can always succeed if they really want something. Liliana's award is yet another a proof of this point, he noted.

Liliana received her BS in physics in spring 2012 at UTB. During her time here she has participated in research internships at MIT and The University of Texas at Austin. Throughout her time at UTB she has been very active in the Society of Physics Students and in departmental outreach activities in addition to performing cutting-edge research in the department's Optics and Nanophotonics lab.

Physics undergraduate students perform impressively in prestigious programming contest

The Physics and Astronomy's team "Prelude" participated in the 2012 International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) which took place at Baylor University, Waco TX. The team took the stunning 6th place following Rice and UT Austin and leaving behind more than 50 participating teams which represented all major universities and colleges in the South Central region of the United States. The team consisted of three undergraduate students from UTB's Department of Physics and Astronomy: Ali-Amir Aldan, Satzhan Sitmukhambetov, and Johnathan Aguilar, who were accompanied to the contest by their coach Dr. Malik Rakhmanov, Assistant Professor in Physics. The ICPC contest is universally regarded as one of the most prestigious programming contests in the world and its winners receive invitation for job interviews at major high-tech companies, including Google and IBM --- the official sponsor of the contest.

Dr. Matthew Benacquista publishes Astrophysics book.

Dr. Matthew Benacquista has published a book titled 'An Introduction to the Evolution of Single and Binary Stars'. The publisher is Springer. The book features an introduction to the Evolution of Single and Binary Stars. Concepts of astronomy, stellar structure and atmospheres, single star evolution, binary systems and mass transfer, compact objects, and dynamical systems are covered in the text. The book in targeted at advanced undergraduate students in physics and astronomy.

Monday Physics is Back

Monday night physics is back for 2013 Comes Join us with Dr. Joseph Romano, professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. He will deliver a public lecture titled Learning math from the prints of M.C. Escher on January 28 as part of the Monday Night Physics Lecture series. The lecture will take place at 7:00pm in BRHB 1.222. The community is cordially invited to attend. Contact Robert Stone (rstone@phys.utb.edu) for more information.

Dr. Richard Price named 2012 AAAS Fellow.

On November 30, 2012, Richard Price of the Department of Physics and Astronomy was named one of the new Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. According to the AAS "Election as a Fellow of AAAS is an honor bestowed upon members by their peers. Fellows are recognized for meritorious efforts to advance science or its applications."

Throughout the country, there were forty-nine Fellows named in Physics. Price, and a professor from Texas A&M were the only physicists in Texas to be named. Price is also the first member of the UTB faculty, in any field, to be given this honor.

The department proudly congratulates Dr. Price! For a more in-depth article please read more ....

Mkhitar Hobosyan awarded a Graduate Student Presentation Award at the TSAPS Fall 2012 Presentation Award competition.

Congratulations to our second year M.S. Physics student, Mkhitar Hobosyan! His presentation "Self-Assembled Nano-energetic Gas Generators based on Bi₂O₃ " has earned him the *Texas Section of American Physical Society's (TSAPS) award at the Fall 2012 conference. The photo shows Mkhitar presenting his work. Mkhitar will be receiving a cash award from the TSAPS in recognition of his honor. Nanoenergetic Gas-Generators are formulations that rapidly release a large amount of gaseous products and generate a fast moving thermal wave. They are mainly based on thermite systems, which are pyrotechnic mixtures of metal powders (fuel- Al, Mg, etc.) and metal oxides that can generate an exothermic oxidation-reduction reaction referred to as a thermite reaction. A thermite reaction releases a large amount of energy and can generate rapidly extremely high temperatures. The intimate contact between the fuel and oxidizer can be enhanced by use of nano instead of micro particles. The contact area between oxidizer and metal particles depends from method of mixture preparation. A link to the abstract can be found here... Mkhitar's advisor is Associate Professor Karen Martirosyan, Ph.D., who leads the nanoscience group.

Congratulations are also extended to University of Texas at Dallas student Joseph Coleman, a participant in the 2012 UTB Research Experiences for Undergraduates program who also won an award at the TSAPS meeting. Joe's poster, titled Resonant Circuit Simulation and Development for LIGO Lasers, was based on work he did at UTB with Assistant Professor Volker Quetschke, Ph.D.

Jose McKinnon named one of the top winners of the NASA University Research Center Virtual Poster Session

Congratulations to graduate student Jose McKinnon, who was named one of the top winners of the NASA University Research Center Virtual Poster Session on November 2. Four winners and a runner-up were chosen from 40 entries submitted from 11 different universities. Jose's poster entitled Mapping the Milky Way Galaxy with LISA was the top winner in the Human Exploration and Operations category.

Jose's poster was based on research he has been doing at UTB with Dr. Matt Benacquista, as well as work he did this past summer as an intern at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Maryland. At GSFC Jose worked with Dr. John Baker, Dr. Jeffrey Livas, and Dr. Tyson Littenberg. His research involves making models of the Milky Way galaxy based on the gravitational-wave signal distribution of white dwarf star binary systems.

Dr. Volker Quetschke receives Patent for Low-Noise High Power Electro Optical Modulator

Volker Quetschke was awarded patent no US 8,279,511B2, Method and Apparatus for Modulating Light. The patent arose from the research geared towards developing instrumentation for the next generation Gravitational Wave detector Advanced LIGO (aLIGO). Advanced LIGO, as it is currently being installed, challenges the limits of detection by currently available instrumentation. Laser metrology and many other scientific applications of high-power laser beams require the modulation of the laser field. Especially the high laser powers used by aLIGO while maintaining the strictest limits towards thermal lensing and generation of residual noise made the development of new electro-optic modulators necessary. Previous commercial phase modulators were incapable of handling laser powers in excess of a few watts without distorting the laser beam.

The newly developed electro-optical modulators (EOM) can handle more than 200W of continuous laser power with little to no beam degradation. The new design was also shown to reduce the spurious polarization and amplitude modulation of phase modulators by several orders of magnitude while eliminating the very strict alignment tolerances of earlier modulators. This allows for completely new applications in high resolution metrology, sensing, or ranging in many different environments.

The Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy recieves the CREST grant

The Department of Physics and Astronomy celebrated the awarding of a $5 million Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology grant from the National Science Foundation at a press conference on Thursday, Oct. 4 at the Education and Business Complex's Salon Cassia. The grant is a continuation of funding from November to October 2017 for the department's Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy.Read more.

Dr. Rick Jenet is awarded the Houston Endowment Chair in Science, Mathematics and Technology

Associate Professor Rick Jenet was recognized for his numerous achievements by University President Dr. Juliet Garcia as she presented him with the Houston Endowment Chair in Science, Mathematics and Technology. Dr. Jenet's contributions to his field, to the university and to the local community led to this distinctive honor.
Dr. Jenet received his undergraduate degree from MIT and his PhD From CalTech. He is one of the co-founders of NANOGrav, a world-wide scientific collaboration of scientists and students that seeks to measure gravitational waves using pulsar signals. He has been an author on more than 40 scientific papers, and he has been a PI or co-PI on grants totaling $20 million. He was the recipient of the NSF CAREER award which “offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations” according to the award description.
With the CAREER award he established the Arecibo Remote Command Center (ARCC) at UTB. This was the first site that had the capability of remotely directing the Arecibo radio telescope, and the ARCC has provided university students and high school students the opportunities to perform cutting-edge research. He also established the Center for Advanced Radio Astronomy (CARA) at UTB, and he is creating a radio observatory called the Low Frequency All-Sky Monitor with sites in Port Mansfield, Texas, Albuquerque, New Mexico and Green Bank, West Virginia.
Dr. Jenet has provided dozens of students financial support through the ARCC Scholars program, and he is a co-organizer of the 21st Century Astronomy Summer Ambassadors Program for high school students.

Most downloaded papers in American Journal of Physics

Although publishing a paper is a sign of progress, the real test of the importance of that progress is whether the paper gets read. Departmental professors R. Price and J. Romano have no doubt that their papers are being read. Price and Romano published a paper that appeared in April, and another that appeared in May, in the American Journal of Physics. In both months their papers were the most popular papers, the papers most frequently downloaded. The editor of the Journal offered the following comment to Price and Romano: "AJP is probably the most well-read physics journal in the world. The fact that you have two articles in back-to-back months that are the most downloaded says multiple things about these papers. .. this is no small feat." The two articles are:
Joseph D.Romano and Richard H.Price,``Why no shear in `Div, grad, curl, and all that'?," American Journal of Physics, 2012 and Richard H. Price and Joseph D.Romano, `In an expanding universe, what doesn't expand?" American Journal of Physics, 80, 376 2012.

Future Scientists Learn at 21st Century Ambassadors Academy

The 21st Century Astronomy Ambassadors Academy at The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College was a way for high school junior Estival Rivera to observe the skies through the eyes of an astronomer and better understand the forces at work in the universe around him.
“This program helped me understand what it was like to be an astronomer, to see what it is that they do,” said Rivera, 17, of Pace High School in Brownsville. “My teacher suggested I apply because I want to be an electrical engineer and this program dealt with a lot of the kind of radio wave work I want to do.”
Rivera was one of eighteen high school students from the Brownsville Independent School District and surrounding areas that were given the chance to delve deeply into the topic of astronomy as well as assist and learn about the scientific research being done on campus and abroad.
(Read the full article at: http://utb.edu/newsinfo/Pages/Future-Scientists-learn-at-21st-Century-Ambassadors-Academy.aspx)

Department of Physics and Astronomy Announces New Degree Opportunity

The department of Physics and Astronomy will offer a Five year Integrated Masters in Physics starting Fall 2012. In the new program, students can graduate in 5 years with both a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree.

The program is rooted in the exceptionally strong research program in the department conducted by the worldðclass faculty members. The research areas span cutting edge programs in Gravitational Wave and Radio Astronomy, Applied Optics and Lasers, Nanoðsciences, Computational Physics and Biophysics. The department has established remarkable high standards in education by incorporating undergraduate research into the curriculum right from the beginning. There are six state of the art laboratories in the department that house some of the most powerful lasers, remote control access to worldùs largest radio telescope, atomic force microscopes, cryogenic materials research devices and very powerful computer clusters. The department has a cooperative UTB-UT San Antonio Ph. D Physics program.

For more details contact Department of Physics and Astronomy (Wanda.Wiley@utb.edu, 956-882-6779)

Graduate Student publishes in high impact journal

Graduate student Meysam Heydari Gharahcheshmeh is the first author on a paper that appears in the June 15 edition of Materials Chemistry and Physics. His work on the corrosion behavior of zinc alloy electrodeposits such as Zn-Ni, Zn-Fe, Zn-Co and Zn-Cr using DC and pulse currents is described in the article “ Pulse electrodeposition of Zn-Co alloy coatings obtained from an alkaline bath”. The article can be viewed at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2012.04.007. Major points of the research include a morphological study of the Zn-Co alloy electrodeposits using pulse current and an alkaline bath, a study of the corrosion behavior of the Zn-Co alloy electrodeposits using a potentiodynamic polarization test, and the determination of the optimum cobalt content in the coatings for maximum corrosion resistance.

New NSF award for gravitational wave research

Physics faculty members Dr. Joseph Romano (PI), Dr. Soumya D. Mohanty (co-PI) and Dr. Soma Mukherjee (co-PI) have been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation for the development and implementation of novel data analysis methods for gravitational wave searches. The award amount is $450,000 for the period 2012-15.
The proposed research will enable the study of gravitational waves from astrophysical sources such as gamma ray bursts, supernovae and stochastic background in the advanced detector (a-LIGO) era. The grant will support several graduate students at the Masters and Ph. D level. Romano, Mohanty and Mukherjee have received continuous support from the National Science Foundation since 2006 for their research in the area of gravitational wave data analysis.

C2i Gaming Challenge award for Soumya Mohanty

Dr. Soumya Mohanty, Associate Professor in the department of Physics and Astronomy, has received an award in the "C2i Gaming Challenge: Developing New Ways to Use Game-Based Learning to Help Students Achieve,” sponsored by the National Education Association Foundation (NEAF) and Microsoft Partners in Learning. This has been organized on the U.S. Dept. of Education Open Innovation Portal.
The award has been given to Dr. Mohanty for his innovative idea of using commercial video games to learn physics. A panel of experts selected 10 innovators across the nation from a pool of over 150 submissions.

Further details at: https://innovation.ed.gov/blog/generic/page/soumya-d-mohanty.

Director of Arecibo Radio Observatory speaks to Physics students at UTB

Dr. Robert Kerr, Director of Arecibo Radio Observatory addressed an audience of Physics students from the department of Physics and Astronomy, UTB and also from various schools from the Brownsville Independent School District (BISD) on May 11, 2012. The lecture was a part of the celebrations to mark successful graduation of the first batch of ARCC students. ARCC (Arecibo Remote Command Center) is a unique NSF supported program led by Dr. F. Jenet, Associate Professor in the department, that combines research with undergraduate education. These students not only meet the high standards of academics, but also perform cutting edge research that they present at important national conferences. Five ARCC students, Rossina Miller, Frank Ceballos, Alejandro Garcia, Jesus Rivera and Louis Dartez, received felicitations from the President of UTB, Dr. J. V. Garcia on their successful completion of the B.S. Physics degree. While Miller, Rivera and Ceballos will be moving to prestigious Ph. D programs across the nation, Garcia and Dartez have decided to continue pursuing the UTB Physics and Astronomy graduate program with world class faculty members of the department. In his lecture, Dr. Kerr led the audience through the history of Arecibo Observatory and its contribution to current science. Addressing the students, he stressed on the need to take valuable lesson from life's hardships and on the fact that there is no limit to one's own educational goals and achievements. He inspired to students to study Astronomy to unravel the mysteries of the universe and added that the ARCC program was one of the most significant contributors to astronomy education in the nation.

The Radio Astronomy group led by Dr. Jenet has signed an MOU with the Arecibo Observatory to further scientific collaboration between the two institutions.

Click here to listen to Dr. Kerr's lecture http://media.utb.edu/2012arcc/.

UTB Professor gives invited talk at Texas Section APS Opening plenary

Professor Cristina Torres was asked to give the opening plenary session talk on behalf of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration on the future of the gravitational wave astronomy at the Joint Spring 2012 Meeting of the Texas Sections of the APS and AAPT and Zone 13 of the SPS. Her plenary addressed the future direction of the Advanced LIGO detectors and what the expected implications are for gravitational wave detections.

Frank Ceballos Earns Award at National Conference

Physics senior Frank Ceballos won second place in the physics category for his poster entitled Observing SNe Ia Progenitors with LISA at the Emerging Researchers National Conference in STEM held in Atlanta February 23-5. According to Frank's mentor, Dr. Matt Benacquista, “In it, he describes our work testing the ability of LISA (the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) to detect white dwarf binaries from a simulation of the Milky Way galaxy. He was looking at the detection of a particular class of binaries that will lead to Type Ia supernovae.”

High School Poster Contest winners are announced

The Department of Physics and Astronomy High School Poster Contest took place on March 2. After much deliberation the judges decided to award a three-way tie for first place to the following students:

• Ed W. Alvarado, Hanna High School. His poster was entitled Magnetic Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy and Imaging. His mentor was Dr. Karen Martirosyan.
• Quentin Hale, Harlingen High School. His poster was entitled LIGO, and his mentor was Dr. Volker Quetschke.
• Edward Yao, Mathematics and Science Academy. He was mentored by Dr. Ahmed Touhami, and his poster was entitled Molecular Recognition Forces between Immunoglobulin G and a Surface Protein Adhesin on Living Staphylococcus aureus.

Ben Frost named NASA Student Ambassador

Congratulations to physics major Ben Frost who was recently named a NASA Student Ambassador. This appointment is an honor given to “top interns who have participated in various NASA Education projects and have a broad understanding of the NASA mission" according to the NASA Student Ambassador Program Overview.



Ben, seen here holding the award with his mentor Dr. Malik Rakhmanov, performs research in the Optics and Nanophotonics group in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. He joins a cohort comprised of undergraduates from across the nation who will work together to support NASA's science goals. The Ambassador duties include participating in NASA education and outreach events. Additionally, the Overview states that “Student Ambassadors will lead and facilitate discussions on current NASA events and research programs via instant messenger, message boards and real-time polls" in order to reach out to other college students in the areas of science, technology, engineering or mathematics.

In order to be named a NASA Student Ambassador Ben's application was supported by Dr. Rakhmanov, Dr. Mario Diaz, Director of the Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy (CGWA), and by administrators in NASA's Astrophysics Science Division located at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. He is the first physics major from UTB to be named a NASA Student Ambassador.

REU deadline extended

The deadline to apply for a Research Experience for Undergraduates has been extended. The program takes place from June 3-August 10 and includes a $5,000 stipend, lodging and travel support. Freshmen, sophomore and junior students majoring in physics, astrophysics, astronomy, chemistry, engineering, and computer science are encouraged to apply. Please visit http://www.phys.utb.edu/REUsite/ for details.

Drs. Natalia Guevara and Juan Guevara, Jr. have been awarded grant from General Medical Studies Institute

Drs. Natalia Guevara and Juan Guevara, Jr. have been awarded a three-year grant from the General Medical Studies Institute of the National Institutes of Health to investigate the role of low-density lipoproteins (LDL, a.k.a. "bad cholesterol" particles) in the transport of human DNA. The grant, entitled Mechanisms for cell uptake of LDL/DNA complexes, will provide nearly $263,000 to support their research in the Biophysics Research Laboratory. The project builds on previous work of Drs. Guevara where nucleic acid-binding sites were identified in apo B100, the major protein of LDL. By its ability to bind and transport nucleic acids into the cell and cell nucleus (capacities typical of viruses), LDL represents a natural gene delivery vector that may function as such in several human diseases including atherosclerosis and cancer, as well as viral infections. Nuclear translocation and expression of DNA delivered via LDL-mediated mechanism implies an endosomal escape for the nucleic acid. The mechanisms for cell entry and endosomal escape of the LDL/DNA complexes are unknown. Research conducted under this project may elucidate the factors essential for cell entry, endosomal escape, and nuclear translocation of the nucleic acids.

Professor Benacquista publishes Astrophysics book

Professor M. Benacquista has published a book titled "An Introduction to the Evolution of Single and Binary Stars" (published by Springer). The book introduces the physics behind stellar evolution without any explicit assumption of prior astronomy knowledge. The book fills the niche between preliminary and advanced books available on the topic. The book is aimed towards beginning graduate students.

According to Dr. Benacquista, "When I started teaching Astrophysics here in 2007, I couldn't find a book that was the right level of sophistication that also assumed no prior knowledge of astronomy. I first taught the course using bits of 3 or 4 different books. The lecture notes turned out to be about 100 pages of LaTeX, so I figured that I would slowly refine it while using the notes as the course textbook for the subsequent times I taught astrophysics. I also wanted to produce a book for gravitational wave astronomers who should know some of the astrophysics behind the population models of potential gravitational wave sources."

When asked about the task of producing a book he added, "For the most part, I have enjoyed the process of writing. I have been approached by other editors to propose additional books, but I think one book at a time is enough. I may think about writing another book in a few years."

Center for Advanced Radio Astronomy gets $600,000 from DoD

The DoD has awarded the Center for Advanced Radio Astronomy a 600k grant to build the Low Frequency All Sky Monitor (LoFASM). This instrument will search for short time scale radio transients of astrophysical origin, as well as study radio interference mitigation techniques. This work will be done in collaboration with the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). UTB students will be directly involved in the construction and operation of this facility, making it an ideal tool to train our students in modern radio technology.
LoFASM will be made up of three independent stations each consisting of 14 antennas identical to those being used by the existing Long Wavelength Array (LWA) project, thus allowing us to leverage the years of low-frequency antenna design and development preformed by NRL researchers. The wide sky coverage of the LoFASM design makes it well suited to perform all-sky monitoring for radio transient events. The transient sources of greatest near-term interest are the merger of inspiralling binary neutron stars. Such sources are of particular interest to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) project and may prove instrumental in the first detection of gravitational waves. LoFASM will also be used to investigate radio frequency interference (RFI) and ways of mitigating its effects. This RFI work itself will provide immediate benefits to modern communication technology. For this and other reasons, the technology of LoFASM is of explicit interest to the Office of Naval Research.
The LoFASM project would rely heavily on the contributions of undergraduates, and would use the very successful model established by the Arecibo Remote Command Center (ARCC). The practical training our undergraduates would obtain by working on LoFASM would be springboards to immediate technology careers or could serve as excellent preparation for graduate school in a number of science or engineering specialties.