An international team of astronomers used ALMA to capture high-resolution images of eight protoplanetary disks in the Sigma Orionis cluster, which is irradiated by intense ultraviolet light from a massive nearby star. To their surprise, they found evidence of gaps and rings in most of the disks—structures commonly associated with the formation of giant planets, like Jupiter.
Recent News
U.S. National Science Foundation Green Bank Telescope Records Fastest Fast Radio Burst—Yet
Using the U.S. National Science Foundation Green Bank Telescope (NSF GBT), an international team of astronomers led by Yi Feng of China’s Research Center for Astronomical Computing have observed FRB 20220912A as it emitted 128 bursts in under two hours, thus setting a new FRB burst rate record for this class of radio telescope.
Astronomers Discover New Building Blocks for Complex Organic Matter
There should be a lot of carbon in space, but surprisingly, it’s not always easy to find. While it can be observed in many places, it doesn’t add up to the volume astronomers would expect to see. The discovery of a new, complex molecule (1-cyanopyrene), challenges these expectations, about where the building blocks for carbon are found, and how they evolve.
AUI Selects Mr. Kevin Doran – Director Education, Policy & Social Science
Associated Universities Inc. (AUI) is pleased to announce the selection of Mr. Kevin L. Doran, J.D., as the Director of Education, Policy, and Social Science Programs, effective 21 March 2019. In this role, Doran oversees AUI’s education, policy and social science portfolio and leads our growth into new domains such as eLearning, major public policy reports, and customer-oriented analysis.
“We are extremely pleased to have Kevin on the team,” said AUI President, Adam Cohen. “He has an impressive record of leadership, creativity, and organizational development as an academic, administrator, and public servant. I am confident his leadership will help move AUI into new strategic domains that enhance and expand our core mission areas.”
Doran comes to AUI from the University of Colorado Boulder, where he served as an elected Fellow, Professor, and Associate Director for Policy and Analysis at the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute, a joint institute between the University and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. In that role, he led the Institute’s strategic initiatives related to law, economics, sociology, business and other professional and social science disciplines. Previously, Doran served as the Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Science and Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), where he provided organizational leadership for major planning and strategy initiatives encompassing over $10B in research and development, thousands of program elements, and 13 DOE National Laboratories. Doran also served as Director of the Office of Technology Transfer at DOE, where he led efforts related to technology transfer, policy analysis, interagency coordination, and stakeholder engagement.
“I am honored and excited to join AUI,” Mr. Doran said. “AUI has a storied reputation for excellence in managing complex projects and effective educational and public policy initiatives. I look forward to building on AUI’s expertise to develop new innovations and partnerships in the domains of education, policy, and the social sciences that serve society and advance the global frontiers of knowledge.”
“Kevin is already leading AUI in a major new venture in eLearning,” said Adam Cohen. “The AUI Open Program Education Network—OPEN, for short—will provide high-quality, industry-relevant eLearning to educational institutions worldwide, at little or no cost. This is an exciting initiative that will benefit thousands of students around the world.” For additional information on OPEN, please visit http://open.aui.edu.
Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) is a U.S. non-profit corporation, which operates the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), the Green Bank Observatory (GBO) and the Long Baseline Observatory (LBO) under cooperative agreements with the National Science Foundation (NSF). NRAO facilities include the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico and the North American portion of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile. For further information please visit aui.edu.
Recent News
ALMA Reveals Planets Can Form Under Harsh Radiation
An international team of astronomers used ALMA to capture high-resolution images of eight protoplanetary disks in the Sigma Orionis cluster, which is irradiated by intense ultraviolet light from a massive nearby star. To their surprise, they found evidence of gaps and rings in most of the disks—structures commonly associated with the formation of giant planets, like Jupiter.
U.S. National Science Foundation Green Bank Telescope Records Fastest Fast Radio Burst—Yet
Using the U.S. National Science Foundation Green Bank Telescope (NSF GBT), an international team of astronomers led by Yi Feng of China’s Research Center for Astronomical Computing have observed FRB 20220912A as it emitted 128 bursts in under two hours, thus setting a new FRB burst rate record for this class of radio telescope.
Astronomers Discover New Building Blocks for Complex Organic Matter
There should be a lot of carbon in space, but surprisingly, it’s not always easy to find. While it can be observed in many places, it doesn’t add up to the volume astronomers would expect to see. The discovery of a new, complex molecule (1-cyanopyrene), challenges these expectations, about where the building blocks for carbon are found, and how they evolve.