New Opportunities in Observational Astronomy and Astrophysics
Â鶹´«Ã½ astrophysicist Kristin Kulas, Ph.D. continues to provide wonderful hands-on opportunities for Â鶹´«Ã½ physics and engineering physics majors who are interested in observational astronomy and astrophysics. Her work is funded in part by the National Science Foundation. Since coming to Â鶹´«Ã½, Kulas has established an active research program in collaboration with her colleagues at NASA Ames, including SOFIA Associate Director for Science Operations and USRA, Dr. B-G Andersson. Their work focuses on understanding how magnetic and strong radiation fields can affect star formation.
Every year Dr. Kulas takes her research students to observe a night at Lick Observatory. The photo to the right shows Dr. Kulas (far right) observing with now-former Â鶹´«Ã½ students Remy Dennis (left, currently a systems engineer at Raytheon ), Janik Karoly (back, currently a Ph.D. graduate student at the University Of Central Lancashire ), Mandy Caputo (back-right, currently a Ph.D. graduate student at the University of Toledo), and collaborating NASA postdoc Dr. Archana Soam (middle).
Kristin Kulas (far right) with current Â鶹´«Ã½ students and NASA colleagues on the catwalk of the Shane Telescope at nearby Lick Observatory (April, 2019).