Taking the Measure of Planets in the Globular Cluster 47 Tucanae

Meet the team from Penn State!
   Dr. Steinn Sigurdsson  (webpage)
    Melissa Parlanti  (webpage)
    Nahks Tr'Ehnl   (webpage)
    John Debes  (webpage)

Dr. Steinn Sigurdsson (Ph.D., California Institute of Technology, 1991) is a professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Penn State. He is primarily interested in compact objects, dynamics and theoretical astrophysics.  Current projects include searches for for planets in stellar clusters, evolution of stellar clusters, the structure of elliptical galaxies and the effects of black holes on galactic structure, compact object mergers, gamma-ray bursts and sources of gravitational radiation.  He is also interested in numerical methods for dynamical simulations and parallel programming techniques.  For more information regarding Dr. Sigurdsson's research and interests, click here or on the webpage link by his name above.

Melissa Parlanti will be entering her second year as an undergraduate at Penn State this fall.  Her primary interests in astronomy are stars, especially binaries.  She is also interested in the Solar System, particularly asteroids and comets.  Melissa plans to declare her major in Astronomy and Astrophysics by the end of her sophomore year, and is considering a double-major with computers or physics.
Melissa's interest in astronomy arose from reading Greek mythology and learning the mythological background of the constellations.

Nahks Tr'Ehnl will be entering his fourth year of undergraduate study at Penn State in the fall.  Currently he is working on a simultaneous degree in both Astronomy and Astrophysics and Art (visual arts).  His primary interests in astronomy have to do with planets (both within the solar system and without), astrobiology, the evolution of planetary systems, planetary atmospheres, and habitable zones.  He is also interested in both manned and robotic space travel and exploration.

John Debes will be a first year graduate student at Penn State this fall, pursuing a PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics.  He graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a Bachelor of Arts in Physics.  He thinks stars are pretty and physics is pretty so astrophysics seemed like a good choice.

 
 

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