Lauren Arnold has always had a keen
interest in astronomy from a tender age and despite being otherwise converted,
she has always returned to her main interest. Last summer, Arnold a senior
undergraduate student of the University of the Virgin Islands, spent 10 weeks from July to August at NASA Goddard Space Flight
Center (GSFC) in Washington, D.C.
“When I was in third or fourth grade, I
applied to Space Camp and I was accepted on a partial scholarship,” she
recalled. “However, my single-parent mother could not afford the additional
money and so I could not attend. So that caused me to give up on wanting to be
an astronaut”, she said. “I started getting into marine science and that was
when my love of the ocean and sharks began”, she continued. “Since then I have
wanted to become a marine biologist, which is why I attend UVI as a marine
biology major, so that I can do shark research”, she said.
Still interested in pursuing her
lifelong dream, Arnold said, “two summers ago my mom and I went to Kennedy
Space Center in Florida and I met two astronauts.” “They said that although I am
a marine biologist, I can still be an astronaut. I got bit by the space
"bug" again, and wanted to get my foot in the door at NASA, any way
that I could”, she stated. Arnold said that she applied to the NASA OSSI
internship and was accepted to work on exoplanets at Goddard Space Flight
Center (GSFC) in Maryland.
“At NASA I was able to help out on a
bunch of different projects, not just my own. As a result, this internship has helped me to become more
versed in disciplines other than marine biology, like astrophysics and
planetary science”, Arnold said.
Arnold credited much of her success at
NASA to her mentor, Dr. Knicole Colón, under whose tutelage she was able to
carry out her project, titled, "Characterizing Thermal Emission from Hot
Jupiters."
“I was identifying how the thermal
emission signals vary between exoplanets with different masses and temperatures
to explore the diversity of exoplanet atmospheres”, she said. “This is done to
help identify which planets could be labeled as "candidate planets"
if it has a similar atmosphere as ours”, she added. “Dr. Knicole Colon,
was incredible and I am still in contact with her to continue working on other
projects”, Arnold said.
Arnold has had her work in the observing campaign using the Maunakea
telescope published. “Being published as an undergrad is incredible,
not a lot of students get the opportunity to”, she said. “I am currently
working on two papers in marine biology, one on the invasive seagrass Halophila
stipulacea and one on tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) movements”,
she said. “These publications will help me to be more competitive when applying
to graduate school”, she further added.
“She has gained in-depth knowledge of
the hardware and software used to identify life outside of our solar system”,
said Dr. Cucchiara. He added that, “she had the opportunity see first-hand the
techniques that the astrobiologists are using to find life in planets.”
During her internship, Arnold worked
with NASA scientists to find planets around nearby stars that may host life. She
has participated in an observing campaign and collected data from a NASA infrared
telescope located in Maunakea, Hawaii, on a particular planet orbiting a star
in the Hyades cluster. “Her data has contributed to identifying the planet not
as a "new Earth", but as a Neptune-like object”, said Dr. Cucchiara. This
is the first identified binary system with Neptune sized planet in the Hyades
cluster.
“This shows
us how, with just a few months of research UVI students can shine and
demonstrate their incredible potential. It also shows how UVI Physics faculty
are fostering more and more research based interest in astronomy”, said Dr. Cucchiara.
Lauren is a marine biology major, “so this is a great
demonstration that the Physics department provides research opportunities
across the board”, said Dr. Antonio Cuccchiara. He said, “our faculty has been
working with other faculties and departments to form research in connection
with other partners at different institutions and national and international
laboratories.”
The University’s new bachelor of science degree in physics and astronomy began in Fall of 2016. This exposure is important to promote the work being undertaken in the Bachelor of Science in Physics with concentration in astronomy. “The Etelman Observatory in St. Thomas will be a prime facility to observe and identify more "exoplanets" in the future, involving students form UVI and local high-schools”, said Dr. Cucchiara.
In 2015, the University of the Virgin Islands
was awarded a five-year, $2.7 million grant from the NASA. The grant is
designed to expand aerospace research and development, increase participation
by faculty and students at minority serving institutions, and ensure that
underrepresented and underserved students participate in NASA education and
research projects to assist their pursuit of science, technology, engineering,
and math (STEM) careers. Since then, UVI
has used the grant to hire two new faculty to support the existing physics
program, among other activities.
Over the last three years students of
the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) have been participating in several National
Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) and astronomy related internships,
thanks to the National
Aeronautic and Space Administration - MUREP Institutional Research Opportunity (NASA MIRO) grant.
