Two summer research students work on a project together, photo by Rebecca Gagnon ‘23.
By Rebecca Gagnon ’23
Features Editor
Although another year at Mount Holyoke has come to an end, academic life is still present on campus as summer research is now in full swing. Professors across the College, such as in the astronomy department, are beginning projects in their fields of study and have students assisting them for experience.
Jason Young, a visiting lecturer from the astronomy and physics department, has remained on campus since the end of the semester to conduct summer research.
“There's actually a couple of different lines of research I’m working on,” Young began. “I’m … working with a professor up at [University of Massachusetts Amherst] … using the Very Large Array Radio Telescope down in New Mexico to look for hydrogen gas in some of [the] galaxies [being studied], and [we’re] looking for signs that they might be interacting with some of their neighboring galaxies.” Young continued, “Then on top of that, I’ve got some collaborators over in Spain and the Netherlands, and we're looking for a different kind of gas, carbon monoxide, in a few other galaxies which are often linked to star formation.”
Young explained that there is a third project he hopes to work on with the Hubble Telescope, but it depends on his proposal being approved.
“I'm also hoping that Hubble doesn’t break,” he added. As reported by NASA, the Hubble Space Telescope’s payload computer stopped working on June 13, 2021, resulting in a halt in the collection of data. However, the telescope itself and the scientific instruments are in good condition, and NASA is working to diagnose the problem. Young said the entire astronomy community is waiting in anticipation for updates on the telescope.
In addition to these lines of work, Young has taken on two students, Lindsey Hands ’22, a double major in physics and astronomy, and MJ Khan ’24, a physics major, to assist with more of the research for the summer.
“The research I'm doing is, in general, I’m trying to find the chemical compositions of low surface brightness galaxies, which are galaxies that are really massive and big, but they don't have a lot of stars so they're not very bright,” Hands described. “We're trying to find out, through the chemical composition, what could be causing the lack of star formation.” Young also noted that the galaxies Hands is studying have unusual properties because they appear to have more chemical enrichment on the edges of the galaxy than in the center. Both Young and Hands hope this research can evolve into a senior thesis.
Khan is looking at the same type of galaxies as Hands, but with a more structural approach. Young assigns Khan individual galaxies to study by looking at their infrared images. She then breaks down the galaxies into their individual parts.
“The galaxies that we're looking at have a lot of hydrogen gas, but they're not really forming stars at a very high rate, and so the question that we're asking is, ‘why not?’” Young specified. “You've got all the stuff, so why aren’t you doing anything with it? And so all these different research projects are kind of looking at the same problem from different angles.”
The typical length of summer research depends on the professor, the students and whether the students have any funding supporting them as they work on their projects. Khan is working all summer while remaining on campus. Hands, however, received a Space Grant funded by NASA for her summer research, which allows her to work from eight-10 weeks with compensation.
Hands described her day as starting around 10 in the morning, making sure she is in Kendade before their 11 a.m. meeting with Young.
“My work right now is coding in Python,” Hands said. “So my day to day work is just doing tasks, a lot of data processing and manipulation through Python coding, and I know it's gonna move on, I'm pretty sure, to other types of work, but I need to set up this code to process the data that we're going to get soon.”
Khan also tries to begin her work before 11 a.m., regardless of what their varying schedules look like on any given day.
“For us, it's more flexible, because we can access the computers from our computers [at home] because it's a remote log in,” Khan said. “So, we can just work from home, too, if we want.”
Young explained that, in astronomy, aside from occasional observation, most work is done on computers, including analyzing data, reading papers, and writing grant proposals and telescope time. “Unfortunately, I spend most of my time staring at a computer screen,” Young said.
Khan and Hands both laughed as they said in unison that lunch is one of their favorite times of the workday, although they agreed that their work is very rewarding.
“It's exciting when you finally get the code to compile, because sometimes there are so many errors that it just says ‘stop, it's broken,’ but then eventually it actually codes something and you get to see the result,” Hands said. “It usually happens at least once a day that you actually get a satisfying image or table of numbers. So that, that's the best.”
“For me,” Khan began, “[it’s] every time I finish working with a galaxy and send it to Jason and he says, ‘yes, this looks good.’ That's the best thing for me, so I can move on.”
Hands and Khan both commented that another aspect of the summer research they enjoy is working independently on their projects, with the assistance of Young when they get stuck.
“It's working individually that's helping me to understand what research is,” Khan said. “If I had group work … I love working with people, but … I would not know every single step and what's going on, right? Now, I know pretty much what's going on, so that's good.”
“Yeah, it is an interesting thing,” Hands agreed. “With my other project, if I was struggling with this step, sometimes you could just push it onto your group members, but when it's just you, you have to problem solve and figure it all out on your own.”
Though their work requires independence, Hands and Khan still rely on each other for advice and support. “It's nice,” Hands added. “We literally sit, our computers, [Khan] and I, are right next to each other, so we can complain and also ask each other questions and offer suggestions, so we're not working alone entirely.”
There are numerous ways students may go about finding summer research projects to work on, even outside of Mount Holyoke.
“[Something] a lot of students do, that I categorically encourage, is to look at internships,” Young said. “In astronomy, there is something called the Research Experience for Undergrads. It's a government-funded program, where different institutions can get an REU grant, and it’s a good chance for students to go somewhere else and see different people and interact with different researchers … A lot of disciplines have something like that, although it's called different things and labeled in different ways.”
Young stated that another common way to find summer research is to email professors and ask the heads of the departments one would like to work with if there are any opportunities available. “The first step is to either find someone that you want to work with, or do a search on a program to get funding. I also advocate talking to the academic advisor or a professor in this field,” Young said.
Hands had similar advice for beginning to do summer research. “Professors like it when you participate, … so if you're considering doing research with one of the professors, do it, reach out,” Hands began. “Just go to the lab meetings, listen to the PowerPoint presentations that you don't understand, but be inspired, and then realize that you are completely capable of doing it. In the first six months, you're going to be confused, and just typing things and you don't even know what it is, but then eventually, say it's time to do a summer project, you know what you're doing and it's so satisfying.”
Khan spoke to this as well, suggesting, “email as many professors as you can, and talk to them and get to know their work … just go to the lab meetings … and if you don't like something, you don't have to stick with that project, you can just let it go and try finding something you might like.”
Hands and Khan gave other advice as well, encouraging their peers to drop projects they know they don’t want to invest time in. At the same time, they urged students not to be afraid to try new things.
“Like Nike said, or whatever, just do it,” Hands laughed.
Hands and Khan added to ask questions if you don’t understand something, because there will come a point when you’ll have to display knowledge on the research topic. Their last piece of advice was to answer emails in a timely manner.
“If students want to do research in the summer, in a related or unrelated field, in biology, geology, I would just reach out to the professors and say, ‘hey, I'm interested in what you're doing, I would like to work with you,’” Young suggested. “That is the way that I have made most of these connections, where most of the students who have worked with me [or have] done senior thesis with me, have either been people I met through a class or like, [Khan]. She just reached out and said, ‘hey, can I do some research with you?’” Young reiterated that most professors are kind and happy to hear from students about summer research. He also advised students not to be discouraged if a professor says no for any reason, and instead, continue reaching out and making an effort.