CTIO was home for a group of eager students (pictured on the next page) during the Chilean summer (January-March 1999). While their northern counterparts toiled through another dreary winter of class work, our four NSF-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) students got a taste of astronomy research. The 1999 CTIO REU students (and their projects) were:
Jeremy Buss (Wisconsin, Oshkosh) - "A Comprehensive Look at LH72 in the Context of Constellation III" (Advisor: Knut Olsen)
Jenny Greene (Yale) - "LMC X-2: The Search for the Orbital Period" (Advisor: Stefanie Wachter)
Jessica Kim-Quijano (Towson) - "The Orbital Period of the Double-lined Cataclysmic Variable Phe 1" (Advisor: Don Hoard)
Alicia Soderberg (Bates) - "The Evolution of SN1987A Debris: 12 Year Light Curves in UBVRIJHK" (Advisor: Nick Suntzeff)
All four of these REU students will attend the 194th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (Summer 1999, Chicago) to present posters based on their REU projects.
The US undergraduate students were joined by a Chilean masters student in the parallel Programa de Practicas de Investigacion en Astronomia (PIA):
Ricardo Demarco (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago) - "Supernovae Type Ia and Their Host Galaxies" (Advisor: Bob Schommer)
Two Chilean electronics engineering students doing internships at CTIO also participated in the summer student program:
Mario Caceres (Universidad Técnica de Federico Santa Maria, Valparaiso) - "Evaluation of a CCD Imager for All-Sky Cloud and OH Monitoring" (Advisor: Roger Smith)
Cecil Acevedo (Universidad Técnica de Federico Santa Maria, Valparaiso) - "A Graphical Unit Interface for the Voltage, Telemetry, and Temperature ARCON Card" (Advisor: Marco Bonati)
In addition to their individual research projects, all of the astronomy students participated in observing runs on Cerro Tololo. These included a four-night orientation on the Curtis Schmidt Telescope with the REU Site Director (to introduce them to observing techniques, instrumentation, and the CCD control system at CTIO), as well as additional runs with their project advisors. Other activities included weekly scientific seminars presented for the students by the CTIO staff and a tour of the Gemini South site on Cerro Pachon. A highlight of the 1999 REU program was a trip to Antofagasta (in northern Chile) during early March, where the students attended the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope Opening Seminar. In addition to absorbing the scientific content of the four-day seminar, they were also able to tour the VLT site, and visit the oasis town of San Pedro in the scenic Atacama Desert.
Exposure to the international astronomical community and the opportunity to work side by side with scientists and students from other countries are key components of the CTIO REU experience. Many of these young scientists will make up the next generation of astronomers in an era of international telescope projects (Gemini, SOAR, and others)--—the CTIO REU program offers valuable insight into the operation of a major astronomical observatory. Although not all US students are enrolled in degree programs flexible enough to accommodate an academic-term REU program, for those who are interested in a special opportunity to explore research in an observational and international environment, we offer a unique REU experience. Operating the program during the Chilean summer allows us to provide a rich scientific and educational program for both Chilean and US students.
We are now starting to plan for next year's REU program, which will run from January-March 2000. Look for announcements in future Newsletters, and check our CTIO REU Web page (http://www.ctio.noao.edu/REU/reu.html) for the most up-to-date news and information about the program.
Donald W. Hoard (dhoard@noao.edu),
CTIO REU Site Director