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September 9, 2005 A new NSF grant for space research at Augsburg College Minneapolis -- The U. S. National Science Foundation has announced funding for a new international research effort, involving faculty and students from Augsburg College, the University of New Hampshire, and the University of Oslo, Norway, to study some of the fundamental physical processes involving the aurora borealis, or northern lights. Augsburg will receive $ 301,000 over three years for its efforts in this project. Norwegian scientists were some of the first to study the aurora, more than a century ago. (A picture of Kristian Birkeland, a Physics professor at the University of Oslo, is on the Norwegian 200 Kroner bill.) Auroral studies are still a major area of research in Norway, now in cooperation with scientists from several other countries in Europe, the U.S., Russia, and Japan. Based on a proposal submitted to NSF in January 2005, Augsburg Professor of Physics Mark Engebretson, University of New Hampshire Research Professor of Physics Marc Lessard, and University of Oslo Physics Professor and Department Chair Joran Moen will collaborate to build, install, and operate a set of search coil magnetometers at four sites on the Svalbard archipelago, a set of islands in the Arctic Ocean north of Norway. After these instruments are installed in late summer 2006, they will operate continuously throughout the following years to monitor magnetic variations associated with changes in Earth's space environment, and in particular with the overhead aurora. Because of the roughly 23 degree tilt between Earth's rotation axis and its magnetic poles, Svalbard is the only region in the northern hemisphere where daytime auroras, ordinarily invisible because they are much less bright than sunlight, can be seen even near noon during the long, dark Arctic winter. Although magnetic fields are themselves invisible, magnetometers have the advantage that they can detect changes at high altitudes despite darkness or cloud cover. As a result, observations from this array of magnetometers can be used for year-round studies. Together with data from several other kinds of instruments already in place on Svalbard, including auroral imaging cameras and specialized high-altitude radars, the magnetometer data will be used in attempts to better understand the interactions that create the complex, rapidly changing auroral displays. Increased understanding of the aurora also holds promise of helping scientists worldwide to better predict and respond to "space weather," which during major geomagnetic storms (associated with sunspots and related "weather" on the sun) threatens navigational and communications systems, and subjects astronauts and even passengers on high-latitude air flights to greatly enhanced doses of radiation. As with other research projects at Augsburg, undergraduate science students
will be an integral part of the research team. Past and present Augsburg
students have had opportunities to learn research skills and understand
the cadence of scientific research, and dozens have been able to present
their findings at scientific conferences or in scientific journals. July 24, 2002 Augsburg's Alexa Halford Named for Top Student Research Award in Physics Minneapolis -- Alexa Halford, an Augsburg College senior from Chippewa Falls, WI, has been selected for one of the top student awards presented nationally by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), considered the leading scientific society in the U.S. in the field of Space Physics. More information will be posted here as it becomes available. September 13, 2000 Augsburg's Matt Klatt Named For Top Student Research Award in Physics Minneapolis -- Matt Klatt, an Augsburg College senior from North Branch, MN, has been selected for one of the top student awards presented nationally by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), considered the leading scientific society in the U.S. in the field of Space Physics. Klatt was selected for an Outstanding Student Paper for a poster presentation he made at the AGU's June 2 Spring Meeting in Washington, D.C. He was the only undergraduate selected for the prestegious honor. The other 11 winners were graduate students in major research institutions throughout the United States and Canada. Klatt's poster presentation grew out of research he has been doing in Space Physics with Dr. Mark Engebretson. Klatt came to Augsburg, in fact, because of the research opportunities the college offered - something he had first observed when his older brother Eric was an Augsburg student, also working with Professor Engebretson. While Klatt's paper, titled "Under What Conditions do Solar Wind Compressions Stimulate Pc 1-2 Pulsations in the Outer Dayside Magnetosphere?" was technical in nature, it was the clear, concise manner in which he presented the work that won him accolades for it. "I was studying how the solar wind presses agains the Earth's atmosphere and then what effect that has," Klatt explained. Basically, what this means, is that when particles from the sun intensify, there's a 'squeezing' of the space environment around the Earth," Engebretson added. "One consequence of this effect is the formation of plasma waves, or 'pulsations,' and another is what we know as northern and southern lights. Matt's study gave real quantitative information about how this activity works and at the same time eliminated any puzzlement about what is going on." Dr. John Dickey, Director of Outreach and Research Support for the AGU, noted in a letter to Matt that, "Your presentations set an expample for your fellow students and the entire AGU membership." And, Dr. John W. Merriwether, Aeronomoy Program Director of the National Science Foundation, noted: "When we did our judging (of the student presentations), we did not pay any attention as to whether the presenter was a graduate or undergraduate student. So, an undergraduate receieved no special consideration in our review process, which speaks even more to the quality of Matt's work." Klatt said he plans to continue with the research. "My next goal is to help complete a paper(along with Engebretson and four others) that can be published abou the work. After graduation, I'd like to go on to graduate school in electrical engineering." Engebretson said Klatt, who also wrote some of the computer software used to dipslay the research data, will be the second author (after himself) on a multi-author paper, another "honor" in itself based on the credentials of his fellow authors. THe other authors are major researchers and active scientists at such institutions as UCLA, Johns Hopkins, Lockheed, and the University of Iowa. |