December 2024
Serving the KU Astronomy and Space community across all space/time coordinates.
Issue No. 1
space/time
Welcome to the first edition of space/time, the newsletter of the KU Astronomy & Space Physics group. We hope to use it to share updates from the department with all our alumni, friends, and current and pastmembers-locatedanywhere,andfromanytime.
In these pages, we invite you to find all the latest news on current KU undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty – as well as updates
SpaceFest: You’re invited! JoinusFriday, May 9atKUto celebratethecareersofProfs. Cravens and Feldman. Then, stick around that evening for the annual department banquet. RSVPto ianc@ku.edu.
Grad student Maleah Rhem won the Aura Poster Award at the Nov. NSBP conference for her exoplanet research.
See more department updates at https://physics.ku.edu/news
Research GrantAwards:
Prof. Mills, $820k, “Resolving Activity Cycles In the Nearest Galaxies”
Prof. Kirkpatrick, $550k, “Exploring the Evolution of Unobscured Quasars Across Time”
Prof. Crossfield, $640k, “Origins, Compositions, and Atmospheres of Sub-Neptune Exoplanets”
Prof. Medvedev, $430k, “Extreme QuantumElectrodynamic Plasma Physics”
Student Profile:
Astronomy & Physics BS Joseph Havens, Page 2
Student Profile:
Astronomy BS & AstrobiologyMinor Kate Boyer, Page 2
Meet the Faculty:
All astro/space faculty; Page 3
Faculty Profile: MacArthur Prize recipient Prof. Steven Prohira, Page 3
Alumni Updates: Andhow to keep connected, Page 4
Recent Graduates:
Astronomy BS, Astrobiology Minors, & PhDs, Page 4
KU’s portable, inflatable planetarium served its 1000th visitor this semester.
Astronomy outreach nights continue every month on campus; more details at https://tinyurl.com/kuastronight .
The Board of Regents placed the KU Astronomy degree program on a three-year probation in June; for more information see https://tinyurl.com/astroprobation or contact the department alumni board at https://physics.ku.edu/ alumni-and-friends
Student Profile: Joseph Havens (BS `26):
Among the universities I considered, KU stood out not only for its thunderous cathedral of basketball but also for its inclusive and supportive academic environment. I will always think of KU Astrophysics for its welcoming attitude and its faculty’s dedication to student success.
MEET THE STUDENTS
Student Profile: Kate Boyer (BS `25):
During my Associate’s degree I was listening to a podcast and it mentioned ‘astrobiology.’ The study of life on other planets, and life’s origin on Earth, sounded very cool! It was right up my alley being both someone interested in the sciences and a lover of aliens and the like. Since KU has an astrobiology minor, this made the KU astronomy program aperfect choice.
Geology is another passion of mine. I love rocks, so the chance to do both astrobiology and geology related research was a
dream come true. My first research was cracking open rocks called gypsum and looking for microbes inside. Gypsum grows in water rich environments and nabs microbes as it grows. There is also a lot of gypsum on Mars so comparing what we find in those rocks to stuff on Mars can be very conducive to research. Recently I’ve begun work in our university’s exoplanet lab; it’s been fun trying tolearn everything.
After graduating in Dec. 2025 I want to go to graduate school in astrobiology. After graduate school, I would like to apply for an astrobiology research position preferably at NASA.
run, and analyze simulations of radio transmissions through ice.
After graduating from KU I plan to attend graduate school to work in either astrophysics (focusing on black holes) or cosmology (focusing on the Big Bang).
I have had the privilege of attending astronomy seminars that cover the latest research topics, from exoplanets to cosmology. The eagerness of faculty members to involve undergraduates in their research teams, even when we are just starting out, has been incredibly motivating.
I have worked with Dr. Prohira on high-energy neutrino detection, where Iutilize Python to build,
I expect to graduate in May 2026 with Bachelor of Science in bothAstronomy and Physics, and a minor in German because I am interested in the German language and culture. Beyond academics, I am an avid volleyball player and enjoy watching soccer and KU sports. I am passionate about promoting LGBTQ+ inclusion in STEM and supporting outreach initiatives to encourage LGBTQ+ scientists. I believe in the power of education and enjoy helping others learn, fostering a collaborative and inclusive learning environment.
I’m also very involved in extracurricular activities! I spend my free time volunteering at a food pantry and observatory, TAing,
disability activism, Model United Nations, magazine editor for the department’s student magazine, andmore.
MEET THE FACULTY
KU currently has ten faculty members working, teaching, and researching in astronomy, space physics, and relatedfields:
1) Allison Kirkpatrick (Associate Chair): supermassive black holes andtheirhostgalaxies.
2) Betsy Mills: radio galaxy centers, starbursts, and active supermassiveblackholes.
3) David Besson: radio detection of ultra-high energycosmicrays.
4) Greg Rudnick: how galaxies grow and evolveovercosmictime.
5) Hume Feldman: machine learning, cosmology, and the large scale structure of the universe.
Faculty Profile: Steven Prohira
Joining the faculty in Fall 2022, Professor Steven Prohira (PhD `18) is the latest astro-related hire. His astroparticle research advancesthestudyof cosmic rays and
6) Ian Crossfield: extrasolar planets, their atmospheres, and their hoststars.
7) Jennifer Delgado: physics education and astronomyoutreach.
8) Mikhail Medvedev: Gamma-ray bursts, radiation physics, accretion physics, cosmology, and astrobiology.
9) Steven Prohira: detecting >10-PeV neutrinos using the radar echomethod.
ultra-high energy neutrinos (UHENs) through a combination of theory, engineering and experimental design. This work earned him the prestigious 2022 MacArthur “genius grant” award soon after arriving at KU.
10: Tom Cravens: solar radiation and solar wind interactions with solar systembodies.
“advancing the study of cosmic rays and ultrahigh energy neutrinos”
Prohira co-leads the Radar Echo Telescope, which just finished a successful summer 2024 deployment at Greenland’s Summit Station. Read more about his team’s work online at https://prohira.com/
Alumni Profiles
KU Astro & Space alums find their way to all corners of the Earth – and occasionally even beyond! Some stay in academia, while many others venture out into therealworld.
To keep in touch with us,youcan:
• Send us all your latest successes and adventures at work or at home. (send toianc@ku.edu).
• Share with us your latest email and mailingaddress.
• Join our LinkedIn group “University of Kansas Astronomy Students, Alumni, andFriends.”
And finally, remind your fellow alums to check in withus,too!
Jim Hesser (BS `63): “Following retirement as DAO Director (2014) I reviewed NSF major facilities operating grants until COVID. I served on the boards of the Victoria Symphony and Victoria Summer Music Festival, and as scientific advisor to the Victoria production of Silent Sky – I usedsomeofmyCTIOphotographic plates to show the actors what Leavitt and her Harvard colleagues worked with a century earlier. These efforts are founded uponthe exposure to the liberal arts while pursuing my KU degree a very long time ago. My wife Betty and I met in KU astronomy classes in Jan. 1963, married that August, and celebrated our 60thanniversarylastyear.”
Mark Stull (MA `67): “Practicing law and working on research to determine thefeasibilityofanoveltype ofsubcriticalfissionreactor.”
Brent Hartley (BS `10): Program Director, University of California, Irvine, Paul MerageSchoolofBusiness.
Michael Luhman (BS `88): Leads the Missile Defense Portfolio Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA, in Virginia). “My group assesses the test adequacy and performance ofU.S. missiledefense systems. I just hit 26 years at IDA and have worked on missile defense throughout. I visited KUlast winter break and walked the halls just for fun. I was surprised at how much had changed since the 1980s. Visiting Malott Hall again brought back some really pleasantmemories.”
Lindsay Mayer Clark (BS `05): ChairofthePhysical Sciences Department at Tarrant County College -South Campus (Texas). “I am teaching Earth Science and Natural Hazards, and I am itching to get back toAstronomy.”
Richard Henry (BA `77): “I retired from the Physics and Astronomy Dept. at U. of Oklahoma in 2016. I continued research until 2022, when I completed a review paper on planetary nebulae with Karen Kwitter. My main effort since has been the studyofjazzpiano.”
Recent Graduates:
Astro BS 2024:
Andrew Merritt
Caden Kennedy
Camden Ruckman
Dimitri Schmitz
Keaton Donaghue
Ryan Cosgrove
Tom Duy Trung Huynh
Astrobiology Minor:
Beckett Nichols (Chemical Eng. BS)
Katherine Wienke (Physics BS)
Other:
Aaron Reith (Interdisciplinary Computing, with an Astronomy Focus)
Physics PhD (astronomy focus):
Alex Polanski advisor: Crossfield now: LowellObservatory
Brandon Coleman advisor: Kirkpatrick now: NASA/Goddard
Anthony Renzaglia advisor: Cravens now: postdoc @ KU
Jenn Cooper (PhD `21): Staff Scientist at Arete Associates (California). “I split my time between project management for programs such as laser production / delivery, and machine learning / image analysis / spectral analysis. One project involved trying to determine if any harmful agentsorchemicalweapons were sprayed in an area. We did the algorithm development for an instrument that is put on frontof a drivingvehicle and scans the ground in the 713 μm range and goes through a set of chemicals in a spectral library that we developed in-house. We have a 90% correct detection rate, so it was a success.”
Ethen Schmidt (BS `21): Software engineer at LockheedMartin(Colorado). “It'sbeengreatbeingsucha short distance away from all the great hiking and camping. I climbed a couple 13ers this summer which was quite the adventure. Work has been going well too. I get to use a little bit of what I learned from all my Math, Physics, and Astronomy classes every day which is great. The undergraduate research work I did couldn't have been more valuable in my currentcareer.”
Wichahpi King (BS `21) Astronomy grad school (UTAustin). “I work with AGN data from the HETDEX survey; I calculate Black Hole masses using the broad MgII 2800 Å emission lines. I also helped with a study on how poverty & incomelevelaffectsourfield (IsatonaAASpanelforthis project) and I'm an executive committee and conference planning committee member for the Society of Indigenous Physicists (SIP) and helped plan our conference earlier thisyear.”