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Summer Students at NSO (1Sep92)
(from NSO, NOAO Newsletter No. 31, 1 September 1992)

The long-standing tradition of training both undergraduates and
graduates in solar research continues this summer.  Under the NOAO/NSO
Summer Research Assistant (SRA) and the Research Experience for
Undergraduates (REU) programs, we have thirteen students this summer,
nine at Sac Peak and four in Tucson.

Zachary Baquet (Vassar College), under the supervision of Ray Smartt
and Steve Keil, is working on Coronal Dynamics and Loop Interactions.

Bryan Deeney, a senior in physics and astronomy at Villanova
University, is working with Mark Giampapa on the analysis of
spectroscopic observations of late-type stars obtained at the McMath
telescope. Specifically, he is characterizing the variability of lines
arising from the hot chromosphere in a rare class of M dwarf stars in
order to gain insights on the structure of magnetic regions in these
objects. In addition, he is studying the variability of spectroscopic
features that arise in the strong winds of young stars known as T Tauri
stars. The results will yield clues to the origins of the powerful
outflows in these stars that are still in the process of formation.

Carsten Denker, a graduate student from Universitats-Sternwarte,
Gottingen, is working under Richard Radick and Sergio Restaino. His
project is to compare the relative performance of the Shack-Hartmann
wavefront sensor versus the focal volume wavefront technique, using
data obtained simultaneously with both of these techniques.

Steve Doinidis (New Mexico State U.) is working with Dick Dunn on
modeling the performance of an adaptive mirror to be used in the NSO
adaptive optics system at the VTT. He is also modeling the mechanical
and thermal behavior of the entrance window at the VTT.

Melissa Dryer, a junior in physics and astronomy from the University of
Iowa, is working with Stuart Jefferies to analyze a new technique for
deconvolving a digital image from both a single convolution and an
ensemble of differently blurred images. The technique is unique in the
fact that it does not need any a priori information on either the
objects being investigated or the degrading point spread functions.
She is evaluating the performance of a current suite of algorithms
using simulated speckle images.

Mohamed Lazrek, a graduate student from the University of Nice, is
working on a study of temporal window effects and their deconvolution
from solar oscillation spectra with Frank Hill. He is simulating
temporal observing windows with various duty cycles, periodicities, and
degrees of randomness, and then fitting a peak "observed" with the
windows. He is also testing a method of deconvolving the window
spectrum from the oscillation spectrum.

Karin Muglach, a graduate student from the Institute for Astronomy,
University of Graz, Austria, is working with Bill Livingston on
observational problems in solar magnetism. Following up on a flux tube
model of S. Hassan, they are using the InSb diode `Babo' to search for
predicted oscillations in magnetic field strength. For this purpose
they are using the infrared, g = 3, line of Fe l 15648. Their sample
indicates that 10- and 20-minute periods may exist. More observations
will be needed to substantiate this. Another project is to measure
fields outside of active regions and plage. Muglach is also examining
the field oscillation data for velocity effects.

Catherine Petry (Northern Arizona U.) and her advisor K.S.
Balasubramaniam are working on the influence of magneto-optic effects
on the polarized radiative transfer of the Fe I infrared spectral line
at 15648.5 A and the resulting inference of the vector magnetic field.

Garrett Sales (San Joaquin Delta College) is working with Jim Moore and
Larry Wilkins on the Hilltop Automation and aspects of the design of a
CCD controller for the new Tektronix 1024 x 1024 chip.

As part of the Air Force-sponsored Solar Activity Modeling Initiative,
several excellent data sets have been acquired in order to understand
the dynamical behavior of active regions with the narrowband (~~ 20 mA)
bi-dimensional spectroscopy method. Peter Sauerbrei (U. of Iowa) and
Joanna Thomas (Whitman College) are intensely involved with some of
these flare data sets obtained during a MAX'91 observing run last
April, in an effort to find the temperature and velocity evolution,
respectively, in the course of a flare.  Linh Hong (U. of California at
Davis) is working on the problem of inferring the magnetic field and
other thermodynamic parameters for the same active regions using
non-linear, least-square optimization fits. Erika Meyer (Caltech) is
attempting to determine the instrumental polarization matrix for the
JHU-APL/NSO Vector Magnetograph. She will also work on the observed
polarization-to-magnetic field calibration of that instrument. Peter
Sauerbrei, Joanna Thomas, Linh Hong and Erika Meyer are being advised
by Steve Keil and K.S. Balasubramaniam.

For the second year in succession, students of the University of Texas,
El Paso (UTEP) and University of Texas, San Antonio (UTSA) are at
NSO/Sacramento Peak this summer, supported under a UTEP/NSF REU Summer
program. The students from UTEP are William Bates, Michael Dahlberg,
Roberto del Real, Izaguirre John Medrano, Amir Simon and Guenther
Strunk, and those from UTSA are Dana McCarty and Robert Steele. These
students are involved in a host of engineering projects relevant to
observatory instrumentation. Their projects are being directed under
the leadership of David Nemir and Jim Meyers, Department of Electrical
Engineering, UTEP, and Jim Moore and several technical and scientific
staff of NSO/Sacramento Peak.

In addition to the college and graduate students, Krista Steenbergen,
from Shawnee Mission High School, is working with George Simon, Lou
Gilliam and Brian Armstrong on meteorological conditions of Sac Peak
over the last 30 years as derived from flare patrol data sets.

K.S.  Balasubramaniam, Bob Howard

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