Research Opportunities
“Because so many questions of the scientist and of the child are profoundly the same, this is a doorway through which both may enter, to wonder and to grow, to be excited, to stretch to understand, to seek from other worlds the rediscovery of our own.” — John Turin, Founding Chair, University of Toledo Dept. of Physics & Astronomy
The Ritter Astrophysical Research Center provides unique research opportunities for our undergraduate students, starting as soon as year one. From learning to observe with the one-meter telescope, creating planetarium shows, analyzing data from some of the best telescopes on Earth and in space, to simulating the Universe in your computer, research as an undergraduate can open many doors and give you important real world experience. The number of astronomy majors at the University of Toledo has grown rapidly over the last decade, which has enabled some exciting new research opportunities for our majors.
Some of the available research opportunities in astronomy:
- Observing Team
- Data Analysis Team
- Star Cluster Research
- infrared Galaxy Evolution Research
- star and Planet Formation
- Brown Dwarf Research
- Planetarium
- Summer Research Opportunities
The Ritter one-meter telescope has been substantially overhauled in the past few years and now plays a major role in student training and undergraduate research. The Observing team opens the dome and observes virtually every clear night during the academic year. If you are interested in learning more about joining the observing team, contact: Prof. Jon Bjorkman.
The analysis of astronomical data requires students to learn sophisticated techniques for manipulating data and extracting quantitative measurements using computers. At UToledo, we are assembling several teams, each containing students from freshman to seniors, tasked with the challenge of analyzing data from a wide range of telescopes, including the LDT. In the data analysis teams, students work together to learn these techniques and apply them to cutting edge data. Not only does this immerse them in astrophysical research, but it teaches valuable data processing and programming skills. Much of this work will be done in a new undergraduate data analysis/computing center in McMaster Hall. If you are interested in learning more about joining the data analysis team, contact: Prof. Tom Megeath.
Teams in this group will analyze data from the LDT and other telescopes to search for outbursts from young stars using data from various space telescopes, and to measure the accretion of gas onto young protostars using spectroscopy taken from a range of telescopes, including the LDT. If you are interested in learning more about this research opportunity, contact: Prof. Tom Megeath.