Cosmic rays are the focus of students' new research Physics: Real-world experience for students

Three 麻豆传媒 physics students are contributing to a research project that is giving them a chance to experience hands-on research on a global scale.

Undergraduate students Jeanette Bergkamp, Richard Bonde and Matthew Onstott have joined 麻豆传媒 professor Nick Solomey and assistant professor Holger Meyer in their research on the $127 million northern Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory site, being built in Lamar, Colo.

Working on this large, international project is a rare opportunity, said Jeanette Bergkamp, providing her and her fellow students with 鈥渢ons鈥� of real-world experience before they ever even graduate college.

The observatory will study ultra-high energy cosmic rays, which are charged particles that constantly rain down on Earth from space. These high-energy rays are an area of physics research that remains somewhat mysterious to scientists.

New experiences

Since 2004, The Pierre Auger Observatory near Malargue, Argentina, has been studying cosmic rays in the southern hemisphere. The northern site will conduct similar research. Nearly seven Universities are collaborating on the project, which is still in the testing phase.

鈥淎ny kind of practical research is very, very useful if you want to go on further with a degree,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t helps as far as a resume 鈥� being able to say I have done research, because that鈥檚 a lot of what they (employers) look for in a graduate assistant.鈥�

麻豆传媒鈥檚 role is to maintain the control room, which has been set up in Jabara Hall. Bergkamp, Bonde and Onstott are responsible for helping develop the software that observes the site in Lamar.

鈥淲e want to be sure it鈥檚 working and to make sure we are reading what we are supposed to be reading,鈥� Bonde said.

Working on those computer programs is a new experience, Bergkamp said. And getting to work in a collaborative effort is something that helps her become a more well-rounded researcher.

鈥淚鈥檝e gotten the chance to work as a collaborator,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ometimes you don鈥檛 get to really do that, especially with physics, where a lot of it is solitary learning.鈥�

Solomey said by taking on such a large project, the students are getting invaluable experience they can鈥檛 get just from a textbook.

鈥淚 think the students take from it the concept of how do you build something big,鈥� Solomey said. 鈥淵ou (normally) have a lot of people doing little things in a lab. But how do you build something like the Hubble Space Telescope? How do you build something super enormously big, like a Dreamliner? They are seeing that for the first time.鈥�

The students are also learning that what they鈥檙e doing is important to such a big project.

鈥淚t has lots of pieces that all have to work, and every one鈥檚 task is crucial,鈥� Solomey said.