Academic & Research History of Luke Schmidt
SU2009 - Received my masters degree in Physics - "Design of an Aperture Masking Instrument for Meter Class Telescopes"
SU2009 - I taught Physics 121, the freshman level mechanics course.
SP2009 - Awarded New Mexico Space Grant Consortium Graduate Research Fellowship
SU2008 - Continuing research with aperture masking and speckle interferometry as a R.A.
SP2008 - Inducted into Sigma Pi Sigma Physics Honor Society
SP2008 - Awarded New Mexico Space Grant Consortium Graduate Research Fellowship
SU2007 - Aperture Masking Interferrometry R.A. with Dr. D. Westpfahl and Dr. S. Teare
SP2007 - Awarded NMT Graduate Student Association Matuszeski Research Grant for planetary research with Dr. R.M. Juberias
2006-08 - Instructor for Phys 121 and 122 introductory physics labs at NMT
2006 - Accepted to the PhD program in Astrophysics at New Mexico Tech
2003 - Graduation from Bethel College
I graduated from Bethel College with a 3.464 GPA and Bachelor of Science Degrees in Physics and Chemistry with a Minor in Mathematics.
2003 - Thresher Award in Physics
At the Spring Awards Convocation I was awarded a Bethel College Thresher Award in Physics.
2002-2003 - Minor Planet Astrometry
- Tracy Tuttle Adv.
- Abstract:
The academic year of 2002-2003 is the inaugural year of the Mabee Observatory. The goal of this project is to determine the observational limits of the observatory. This will be done using minor planet astrometry to determine what level of precision can be reached when measuring the position of an astronomical body, as well as the magnitude limit of the observatory in its current configuration. In order to accomplish this it will be necessary to understand the theory behind astrometry, CCD imaging and image processing. The Mabee Observatory Meade LX200GPS telescope, SBIG CCD camera, along with software and asteroid databases provided by project CLEA of Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania and the Lowell Observatory of Flagstaff Arizona, will be used to obtain time series images of asteroids. The images will be stacked and compared to show the asteroid moving across the stationary star field. From this the asteroid’s position and magnitude can be determined. Asteroid observations were made with the goal of producing results of sufficient quality for submission to the Minor Planet Center. Upon receipt of good observations the Minor Planet Center will use them to refine existing asteroid orbits and will issue Mabee Observatory an observatory code, marking it as a permanent observing location capable of producing precise and accurate results. This is done in hopes that the feasibility of future projects can be calculated and recommendations for new equipment to expand and augment the current capabilities of the observatory can be made.
A copy of this paper is available here.
2003, May 10 - Undergraduate Research Symposium
I presented my paper "Minor Planet Astrometry" at the Bethel College Undergraduate Research Symposium. This was the
first year for this symposium.
2002 - Forum: An Exploration of Life's Randomness
This was an email discussion between myself, one of my physics professors Dr. Don Lemons and two former Bethel College students.
The resulting article was published in the December 2002 issue of Context, a publication of Bethel College. The full article
is available here.
2002 - Presentation at 16th National Conference on Undergraduate Research
I attended the 2002 NCUR Conference and presented the research I had done the previous summer
at Auburn University.
2001 - Summer - NSF/REU Program at Auburn University
During the spring of 2001 I applied to 5 summer research experience programs. I was accepted to two of them and I chose a physics research experience
at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. There I worked with Dr. J.D. Perez and Dr. Philip Valek on
"Do Ionosphere Ion Sources Vary Due to Geomagnetic Activity?"
Abstract:
The earth's magnetosphere has two sources of ions. One source being ion outflow from the ionosphere and the other being ion input from the magnetosheath.
It has been found that just equatorward of the dayside cusp region, input to the magnetosphere comes only from the ionosphere. Just poleward of this
boundary in the cusp, input is from both the ionosphere and magnetosheath. Ion velocity, temperature and density data for 141 events recorded by the
Thermal Ion Dynamics Experiment, (TIDE) instrument aboard the POLAR spacecraft have been separated into ionosphere and magnetosheath components.
The question now posed is how the ionospheric source varies with geomagnetic activity as measured by Kp and Dst indices. Previously developed methods
of superposed epoch analysis but with a spatial reference in place of a temporal one had been used with the 141 events to generate a plot of the plasma
parameters of the ionospheric outflow as a function of latitude with respect to the low latitude boundary of the cusp. Instead of collecting all 141
events together, we grouped the events according to values of Kp and/or Dst as obtained from the National Geophysical Data Center and repeated the
superposed epoch-like analysis. We also plotted the maximum value of the plasma parameters as functions of Kp and Dst to see if any significant
correlations could be found. We were thus able to determine if the outflow became stronger, more energetic, or faster with increased geomagnetic activity.
Analysis of the results revealed no correlation between changing geomagnetic activity and the low energy ion outflow from the cusp region.
2000-2003 - President and Founder of the Bethel College Astronomy Club
During my sophomore year I found out that the new science hall being built on the Bethel campus was going to have a telescope.
I started the BCAC with the goal of creating an interested group of students so that the telescope would have a strong user base from the start.
This continued until my senior year, I was heavily involved with planning observing nights for both campus groups as well as public observing nights.
At the public observing nights I spent my time either running the main scope (a Meade 16" LX200GPS) or pointing out constellations and answering
questions on the observation deck.
Mabee Observatory The Bethel College Observatory.
2000-2001 - Undergraduate Research on Randomness and Stochastic Processes
I did much of the experimentation and preliminary data analysis for this paper. This was my first real experience with research.
"The Shape of a Randomly Lying Cord" by D. Lemons and T.C. Lipscombe in the American Journal of Physics, Vol. 70, No. 6, June 2002
I presented my paper "Minor Planet Astrometry" at the Bethel College Undergraduate Research Symposium. This was the first year for this symposium.
This was an email discussion between myself, one of my physics professors Dr. Don Lemons and two former Bethel College students. The resulting article was published in the December 2002 issue of Context, a publication of Bethel College. The full article is available here.
I attended the 2002 NCUR Conference and presented the research I had done the previous summer at Auburn University.
During the spring of 2001 I applied to 5 summer research experience programs. I was accepted to two of them and I chose a physics research experience at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. There I worked with Dr. J.D. Perez and Dr. Philip Valek on
"Do Ionosphere Ion Sources Vary Due to Geomagnetic Activity?"
Abstract: The earth's magnetosphere has two sources of ions. One source being ion outflow from the ionosphere and the other being ion input from the magnetosheath. It has been found that just equatorward of the dayside cusp region, input to the magnetosphere comes only from the ionosphere. Just poleward of this boundary in the cusp, input is from both the ionosphere and magnetosheath. Ion velocity, temperature and density data for 141 events recorded by the Thermal Ion Dynamics Experiment, (TIDE) instrument aboard the POLAR spacecraft have been separated into ionosphere and magnetosheath components. The question now posed is how the ionospheric source varies with geomagnetic activity as measured by Kp and Dst indices. Previously developed methods of superposed epoch analysis but with a spatial reference in place of a temporal one had been used with the 141 events to generate a plot of the plasma parameters of the ionospheric outflow as a function of latitude with respect to the low latitude boundary of the cusp. Instead of collecting all 141 events together, we grouped the events according to values of Kp and/or Dst as obtained from the National Geophysical Data Center and repeated the superposed epoch-like analysis. We also plotted the maximum value of the plasma parameters as functions of Kp and Dst to see if any significant correlations could be found. We were thus able to determine if the outflow became stronger, more energetic, or faster with increased geomagnetic activity. Analysis of the results revealed no correlation between changing geomagnetic activity and the low energy ion outflow from the cusp region.
During my sophomore year I found out that the new science hall being built on the Bethel campus was going to have a telescope. I started the BCAC with the goal of creating an interested group of students so that the telescope would have a strong user base from the start. This continued until my senior year, I was heavily involved with planning observing nights for both campus groups as well as public observing nights. At the public observing nights I spent my time either running the main scope (a Meade 16" LX200GPS) or pointing out constellations and answering questions on the observation deck.
Mabee Observatory The Bethel College Observatory.
I did much of the experimentation and preliminary data analysis for this paper. This was my first real experience with research. "The Shape of a Randomly Lying Cord" by D. Lemons and T.C. Lipscombe in the American Journal of Physics, Vol. 70, No. 6, June 2002