Students Present Space Physics Research
Four University of Scranton students and a physics and engineering faculty member presented their research at the National Science Foundation CEDAR Workshop in Austin, Texas, in June and the 2022 Dayton Hamvention, which is the world’s largest ham radio gathering that was held in Xenia, Ohio, in May.
Veronica Romanek ’23, a physics major from Hampton, New Jersey, presented “HF Doppler Observations of Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances in a WWV Signal Received with a Network of Low Cost HamSCI Personal Space Weather Stations” at the National Science Foundation CEDAR Workshop. Romanek also presented “Traveling Ionospheric Disturbance Observations with the Grape Personal Space Weather Station” at the 2022 Dayton Hamvention. In addition, Romanek participated in the national Youth on the Air (YOTA) Camp in July. The week-long camp, which took place at the Voice of America Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio, allows young people from across the country to meet and learn more about amateur radio.
Cuong Nguyen ’23, an electrical engineering major from Ashley, presented “An Algorithm for Determining the Timing of Components within the HamSCI-WWV/WWVH Scientific Test Signal” at the National Science Foundation CEDAR Workshop and at the 2022 Dayton Hamvention.
Simal Sami ’24, an information technology major from Jessup, presented “Ionosondes of Opportunity Observed with GNU Chirpsounder2 from a HamSCI PSWS Prototype Station in Spring Brook, Pennsylvania” at the National Science Foundation CEDAR Workshop.
Francis Tholley, ’21, G’23, a current software engineering graduate student from Darby, who earned his bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from Scranton, presented “Porting the MUSIC Algorithm to the SuperDARN pyDARN Library for the Study of Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances” at the National Science Foundation CEDAR Workshop.
At the National Science Foundation CEDAR Workshop, Nathaniel Frissell, Ph.D., assistant professor of physics and electrical engineering at The University of Scranton, presented “Recent Advances in Observing Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances Using Amateur Radio Techniques” and “HamSCI Observations for Ionospheric Measurement.” He also presented “First Observations of Large Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances Using Automated Amateur Radio Receiving Network” at the 2022 Dayton Hamvention and “HamSCI Plans for the Study of the 2023 & 2024 Solar Eclipse Impacts on Radio and the Ionosphere” at both events. Dr. Frissell will lead a National Science Foundation grant-supported collaborative research project that will collect and analyze data on the ionospheric variability during the 2023 and 2023 solar eclipses.
Dr. Frissell served as the research advisor for these students and was also the keynote speaker at the national Youth on the Air Camp. In addition to working with Dr. Frissell, these students work with collaborators from other institutions and from around the world. Many of these collaborators are volunteers from the HamSCI Citizen Science project with years of professional experience and advanced academic training. These collaborations provide a unique a community-based research experience that is enriching to both the students and the volunteers.