New and exciting activities in the
McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences
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Recent News from McDonnell Center Fellows
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Cosmic ‘lenses’ will better define dark matter
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A funky effect Einstein predicted, known as gravitational lensing — when a foreground galaxy magnifies more distant galaxies behind it — will soon become common when NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope begins science operations in 2027 and produces vast surveys of the cosmos.
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Strong lenses are the focus of a new paper published in the Astrophysical Journal, led by Bryce Wedig, a physics graduate student in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. Tansu Daylan is the principal investigator of the science team conducting this research and an assistant professor of physics and a faculty fellow of WashU’s McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences.
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Why the Moon shimmers with shiny glass beads
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The Apollo astronauts didn’t know what they’d find when they explored the surface of the Moon, but they certainly didn’t expect to see drifts of tiny, bright orange glass beads glistening among the otherwise monochrome piles of rocks and dust. The beads, each less than 1 mm across, formed some 3.3 to 3.6 billion years ago during volcanic eruptions on the surface of the then-young satellite.
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“They’re some of the most amazing extraterrestrial samples we have,” said Ryan Ogliore, an associate professor of physics and fellow of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at WashU, home to a large repository of lunar samples that were returned to Earth. “The beads are tiny, pristine capsules of the lunar interior.”
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Cracking the dark matter code: WashU Physics hosts ADMX Collaboration
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Last month, Washington University’s Department of Physics welcomed leading researchers in the hunt for dark matter during the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX) collaboration meeting.
Organized by Professors Jim Buckley and Kater Murch, the event brought together scientists working at the frontiers of astrophysics, quantum information science, and condensed matter physics.
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Summer Undergraduate Research Experience
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The first event in this year's MCSS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience took place last week. Students were treated to barbecue and lawn games in the courtyard between Rudolph Hall and Compton/Crow Hall. Another luncheon is planned for later this month.
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McDonnell Center Fellows in the News
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Recent Publications by McDonnell Center Fellows
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| Fellowship Writing Workshops
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WashU's NSF Prepare workshop is open for applications. This workshop is designed to assist you with applications to the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), which is highly recommended for all eligible graduate students.
As in previous years, the university is offering a generous incentive program for fellowship applications:
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- You receive $200 for applying to any qualifying fellowship
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You receive $1,000 if awarded, plus 15% on top of the stipend (see fine print for details)
- Faculty or staff who substantially assist with your application receive $900 (awarded to their research account) if you win — a slight change from last year
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| Exploding and Colliding Stars & Extreme Planets
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Astronomy on Tap St. Louis
Nicole Osborn & Nathan Whitsett, WashU
Saturday, June 14
8:00pm, Urban Chestnut Brewery
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| The Variable High Energy Sky
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St. Louis Astronomical Society
June Meeting
Mike Nowak, WashU
Friday, June 20
7:30pm, McDonnell 162
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| First Look at the Cosmos with the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory
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Andrés A. Plazas Malagón
WashU Visiting Research Scholar
Monday, June 23
9:30am, Crow 201
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| McDonnell Center Contacts |
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Compiled and edited by Alison Verbeck. Please send any contributions to alison@wustl.edu.
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