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Computational Science is one of three new Ph.D.
science programs
range from an effort to track solar explosions to an effort to understand how galaxies merge—a Wallin specialty. Essentially, as technology has increased the flow of new information in fields like astronomy, Wallin has embraced the opportunity to use “citizen scientists” to unlock the data.
launched during the Fall 2010 semester at MTSU. The other two? Molecular Biosciences and Mathematics and Science Education.
According to Wallin, the goal is to “build a partnership between machine analysis and human volunteers.” And it’s working. To date,
Zooniverse has over a half million volunteers who have contributed nearly 60 million classifications. Such data is used to help train computers to make the same detailed observations and categorizations. Citizen science has in fact already led to the development of two new classes of astronomical objects, including the new galaxy classification known as “green peas,” or clusters of stars that resemble fuzzy, bright green spheres. Though the new Computational Science degree may target a different population than the Zooniverse project, both endeavors—and the man in the midst of them—share a common goal: to further scientific knowledge through increased computing efficiency and mastery. MTSU
Editor’s Note: Do you have a question you’d like to ask an MTSU expert? Email MTSU magazine editor Drew Ruble at druble@mtsu.edu and your question might be answered in an upcoming edition of the magazine.
Rising Star: Dr. Wallin, seen here in MTSU’s naked-eye observatory (the Uranidrome), is spending the 2011 spring semester in the U.K. as a visiting fellow at Mansfield College Oxford University, the nexus of the Zooniverse project.
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