2020-2021
Kathryn Amatangelo - Department of Environmental Science and Ecology
TITLE: “EARLY DETECTION FOR SPOTTED LANTERN FLY IN THE FL-PRISM”
FINGER LAKES PARTNERSHIP FOR REGIONAL INVASIVE SPECIES MANAGEMENT THROUGH HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES.
The spotted lantern fly (Lycorma delicatula) is an invasive species in the Finger Lakes region. Currently, the only know infestation is in Tompkins County in Ithaca, near the Cornell University campus. However, there have been sightings in Monroe County, Ontario County, and Yates County. The project will install spotted lantern fly traps in multiple parks across the Finger Lakes and montitor to gather data on how many of the spotted lantern fly are caught. The project assists PRISM’s goals of prevention, early detection, rapid response, and education, as informational placecards will be placed next to the traps.
Presentations will also be given at Brockport and FL-PRISM’s Annual Meeting.
Michael Kramer - Department of History
BERKELEY MUSIC FESTIVAL, NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES AWARD
The grant will support the development of a website with interactive essays, podcasts, and a curated archive on the Berkeley Folk Music Festival, which took place at the University of California, Berkeley from 1958 to 1970. The Festival offers a window into the vibrant West Coast folk, music, and cultural milieu of the 1960s. The repository for the Festival resides at Northwestern University Libraries’ Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections and University Archives.
Ka-Wah Wong - Department of Physics
NASA GRANTS
SEARCH FOR THE OUTER BOUNDARY OF THE STARBURST GALAXY MB2
Starburst galaxies have the highest star formation rates of any galaxies, forming stars up to a thousand times faster than in a galaxy like our own Milky Way. The most massive stars use up their nuclear fuel quickly and explode within a few tens of millions of years. The frequent supernova explosions arising in the starburst galaxies drive ‘super-winds’ that sweep gas from the centers of the galaxies to their outskirts, providing a feedback mechanism that can heat up and enrich the heavy-element content of the gas in nearby galaxies. Although the hot superwinds have been detected in X-rays at the centers of the galaxies, they have been difficult to find in the outskirts. Dr. Wong will make use of X-ray data taken with Chandra and other X-ray observatories to study the nature of the superwinds in the outskirts of M82, which will allow an evaluation of the total energy budget in the hot gas galaxies.
360 DEGREE VIEW OF A REGULAR NON-COOK CORE OUT TO THE VITAL RADIUS
Galaxy clusers are collections of galaxies bound together by gravity; the largest of them contain thousands of galaxies, each averaging a hundred billion Suns. Stars in galaxies only contribute a few percent of the mass of a cluster, and the space between the galaxies is filled with gas heated to millions of degrees that makes up another ten percent of the mass. This gas would otherwise escapte if it weren’t for the presence of ‘dark matter’ that makes up most of the mass of a cluster. Dark matter does not emit light and hence can only be inferred from its gravitational effect on ‘normal’ matter, such as the hot gas that can be seen at X-ray wavelengths, and its exact nature remains an active area of research. X-ray observations of this hot gas have shown that galaxy clusters can be used to understand plasma physics in extreme environments, constrain dark matter properties, as well as provide an important probe of the evolution of the universe. Dr. Wong will use Chandra and other observatories to learn about the physical properties of the hot plasma near the outskirts of Abell 2259, where the physical conditions are still poorly understood.
Zak Robinson - Department of Physic
US NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY
TITLE: SURFACE ANALYSIS OF III NITRADES GROWN BY ATOMIC LAYER EPITAXY IN SITU STUDIES AND ANALYSIS
To provide measurement and analysis services of in situ characterization data taken with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and low energy electron diffraction (LEED) during atomic level processing of SiC and GaN surfaces and atomic layer epitaxy of III-N binary semiconductors. Atomic layer epitaxy (ALEp) is a powerful technique for synthesizing crystalline materials with atomic-scale precision. ALEp has recently been shown to be a viable growth technique for III-nitride materials, including InN, AlN and GaN on various substrates. Development of a III-Nitride growth system with various in situ capabilities is currently underway.