Join us for the Science Speaker Series, hosted by the Physics, Biology and Chemistry departments on select Tuesdays and Thursdays at Noon in the Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium! This series features captivating talks from guest speakers outside ERAU, faculty experts within ERAU and student presentations (REUs or Capstone projects) in the College of Arts and Sciences.
For suggestions, comments or volunteering opportunities, contact Dr. Pragati Pradhan at pradhanp@erau.edu, Dr. Quentin G. Bailey at baileyq@erau.edu or Dr. Steve Waples at steve.waples@erau.edu.
Stay tuned for updates on this event page, or watch out for emails.
Next Event
Discovery of Supernova "H0pe" using the James Webb Space Telescope
When: Nov. 13 at Noon
Where: Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium
Speaker: Dr. Brenda Frye
The universe is moving away from us in all directions, and how fast is it going?
We present an experiment to measure the current expansion rate of the universe "H0," using the largest telescope in space, the James Webb Space Telescope. We will see explosions of distant stars called supernovae and will learn how to leverage the tool of gravitational lensing to make the measurement. Einstein predicted that mass bends light, with the most massive objects distorting the images of sources into larger and brighter versions of themselves. In some cases, lensing can also create optical illusions. For example, in one observation we discovered a single supernova called "H0pe” that is imaged into three different locations by the lensing effect. Since the paths the light takes into each image differ in length, it follows that we receive the light at three different times during the stellar explosion. Measuring the "time delay" between the light paths with a stopwatch, taken together with an understanding of the gravitational lens, returns a value for H0. This work is leading to a better understanding of the standard model that explains our universe.
About the Speaker
Dr. Frye's research concentrates on understanding how galaxies and galactic structures form and evolve in the universe. Of the many approaches, the one she has chosen is to observe distant galaxy fields situated behind massive clusters of galaxies. Large masses such as galaxy clusters act as lenses in space, boosting the brightnesses and sizes of all objects in the background. This lensing effect enables the study of distant galaxies that are intrinsically too faint to see in the field. She searches for those cluster lenses with the highest star formation rates in the background galaxies integrated over a given field-of-view, to maximize the search for transients. To accomplish these research objectives, she conducts observations using large telescopes on the ground and in space such as the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). One JWST program as Principle Investigator (PI) resulted in the discovery of one of the most distant Type Ia supernovae. This image of this object, called "SN H0pe," is "photocopied" into three different locations, each one detected at a different time during its explosion. Measuring the difference in the arrival times resulted in an independent inference of the current rate of the expansion of the universe.
Past Events
Dark Matter Differences Beyond the Milky Way: Mass Modeling the Andromeda Dwarf Galaxies
Date: Oct. 30, 2025
Venue: Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium
Speaker: Connor Pickett
Student REU During Summing 2025
Date: Sept. 18, 2025
Venue: Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium
Speaker 1: Hailey Widger
Title 1: Representation Learning for Galactic Feature Density Estimation
Speaker 2: Em Biegler
Title 2: Testing Thin Film Nanocharacterization via the New WSU X-ray Beamline
The Quest to Explore the Universe With Gravitational Waves
Date: Sept. 4, 2025
Venue: Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium
Speaker: Dr. Marek Szczepańczyk
Capstone Presentations II
Date: April 24, 2025
Venue: Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium
Speaker 1: Sami Garcia Flores
Title 1: Quantifying Outbursts of the Be Star QR Vul
Speaker 2: Hailey Beier
Title 2: Probing the Multiplicity of Dusty, Carbon-Rich Wolf-Rayet Stars With High-Resolution, Near-Infrared Spectroscopy
Speaker 3: Hailey Murray
Title 3: Physics Beyond General Relativity: Spacetime Symmetry Breaking and Black Holes
Speaker 4: Kya Schluterman
Title 4: Distributional Methods for Detecting Gravitational Waves From Core-Collapse Supernovae
Speaker 5: Brandon Pillon
Title 5: Mock Setup of Newtonian Calibration Characterization for Laser Interferometry
Speaker 6: Jacob Anna
Title 6: Correcting the Background Sources Found in the LIGO Interferometer and Data Quality Testing
Speaker 7: Jerome Busquin
Title 7: Ground-Based Contrail Observation
Speaker 8: Quintin B. Weinberger
Title 8: Reaction-Diffusion Systems on Cubic Superlattices
Speaker 9: Charles D. Wszalek
Title 9: Explicit Symmetry-Breaking of D_n-Equivariant Systems
Speaker 10: Isaiah Joy
Title 10: A Quantum Factoring Algorithm
Capstone Presentations I
Date: April 10, 2025
Venue: Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium
Speaker 1: Taylor Brown and Shannon Moore
Title 1: Analyzing the Variability and Orbit of the Massive Binary Eta Carinae
Speaker 2: Jasmine Downing
Title 2: A Spectroscopic Orbit for WR70
Speaker 3: Micaela Henson
Title 3: Imaging the Dusty Environments Around Galactic WC Binaries With JWST
Speaker 4: Katie Casciotti
Title 4: X-ray Insights Into Colliding Wind Binaries: A Comparative Study of WR 25, Gamma2 Vel and Related Systems
Speaker 5: Ryan Totman
Title 5: Voyager Detections of Plasma Oscillation Events Can Be Associated With Neutron Star Production of Gravitational Waves
Speaker 6: Thomas Zanin
Title 6: Quantum Discord of Graviton Detection
Speaker 7: Logan Caudle
Title 7: Energy Calibration in the CCM Detector Using Michel Electrons From Stopping Cosmic Ray Muons
Speaker 8: Jaxson G. Mitchell
Title 8: Coherent States and Coupled Supersymmetry
Finding Space-Time Scars
Date: March 27, 2025
Venue: Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium
Speaker: Michele Zanolin
Research Talks by Physics Faculties II
Date: March 11, 2025
Venue: Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium
Talk 1: Searches for Spacetime Symmetry Breaking
Speaker: Quentin G. Bailey
Talk 2: From Setting National UV Standards to Improving LIGO Sensitivity: Measurement Science and Today’s Cutting-Edge Research
Speaker: Dr. Ellie Gretarsson
Talk 3: How to Hunt Gravitons for Beginners
Speaker: Preston Jones
Talk 4: TBD
Speaker: Dr. Brian Rachford
Talk 5: The Stories Massive Binaries Tell Us About Their Interacting Past
Speaker: Dr. Noel Richardson
Stellar Abundances in the Milky Way (and Beyond) and Their Implications for Nucleosynthesis
Date: Feb. 20, 2025
Venue: Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium
Speaker: Dr. Emily Griffith
NOIRLab: Behind the Scenes
Date: Feb. 6, 2025 — This event has been cancelled
Venue: Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium
Speaker: André-Nicolas Chené
REUs and Beyond During Summer 2024
Date: Jan. 21, 2025
Venue: Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium
Talk 1: How Does Artificially Induced Particle Precipitation From HAARP Influence STEVE Airglow?
Speaker: Hailey Beier
Talk 2: Testing the Resiliency of XENONnT Background Reduction Techniques
Speaker: Taylor Brown
Talk 3: Detections of Superbubble Breakthroughs and Blowouts
Speaker: Katie Casciotti
Talk 4: Improving the Sensitivity of LIGO Searches to Binary Black Hole Signals With Smarter Detection Algorithms
Speaker: Jaxson Mitchell
Talk 5: Photometric Techniques for Analyzing the Light Behavior of Satellites
Speaker: Shannon Moore
Talk 6: Quantum Channel Masking
Speaker: Hailey Murray
Talk 7: Rapid Search for Higher Modes in GW From Compact-Binary-Coalescence
Speaker: Kya Schluterman
Research Talks by Physics Faculties I
Date: Jan. 30, 2025
Venue: Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium
Talk 1: Pattern Formation and Equivariant Bifurcation
Speaker: Tim Callahan
Talk 2: Opportunities in Dr. Smith’s Research Group
Speaker: Dr. Darrel Smith
Talk 3: Hearing Farther Into the Universe
Speaker: Andri Gretarsson
Talk 4: LIGO Detector Characterization
Speaker: BrennanHughey
Talk 5: Beyond What Human Eyes Can See: The Universe in X-rays
Speaker: Dr. Pragati Pradhan
A Guide to Applying to Graduate School
Date: Sept. 19, 2024
Venue: Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium
Speaker: Janessa Sloane, University of Virginia
Weird Binaries Under Close Surveillance: TU Tau and HD 5501
Date: Oct. 3, 2024
Venue: Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium
Speaker: Dr. Christopher Corbally, Jesuit priest of the British Province, emeritus vice director of the Vatican Observatory and an adjunct astronomer at the University of Arizona
Physics Investigations Using the Sensors in Your Phone
Date: Oct. 30, 2024
Venue: Lower Hangar
Speaker: Dr. David Rakestraw, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
An ALMA View of the Disks Surrounding the Closest Young Binaries
Date: Nov. 7, 2024
Venue: Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium
Speaker: Dr. Taylor Kutra, Lowell Observatory
Black Holes, Exploding Stars and Clusters of Galaxies: 25 Years With Chandra, NASA's Flagship-Class X-Ray Observatory
Date: Nov. 14, 2024
Venue: Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium
Speaker: Dr. Scott Randall, Senior Astrophysicist and the head of the Chandra Science Operations Team in Mission Planning in the Chandra X-ray Center at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA)