Spotlight

In the Spotlight: Feb. 12-16, 2024

In the Spotlight: Feb. 12-16, 2024 

Kudos to these faculty, staff, students and programs     

Do you have a spotlight item to share with the NAU community?     

E-mail your announcements to Inside@nau.edu, or use our online submission form.     

  • The College of Engineering, Informatics, and Applied Sciences joined Micron’s Minority Serving Institution (MSI) Network, which aims to address the semiconductor industry’s need for a diverse and skilled workforce. The company’s network includes historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions and Asian American, Native American and Pacific Islander-serving institutions.
  • James Windsor, a graduate research assistant in the Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, was lead author on the paper “Inner Edge Habitable Zone Limits Around Main Sequence Stars: Cloudy Estimates.” In the paper, Windsor and his co-authors assess the viability of a new method of measuring cloud deck height and cloud sedimentation efficiency on rocky planets, which could help scientists understand the extent to which these planets are habitable.  
  • Associate Professor of Rhetoric Ira Allen published the article “To Enjoy ‘Less’ More: Chastened Humanism and Degrowth” in the peer-reviewed Degrowth Journal. The article addresses the quandary of how to motivate consumers to behave differently in light of climate change and biodiversity loss.
  • Laura Lee, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, gave a presentation to 60 students at Freedom 7 Elementary School in Cocoa Beach, Florida, about astronomy and the Solar System as part of a Florida Museum of Natural History initiative to bring scientific experts to local schools. 
  • Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science assistant research professor Jean-François Smekens will participate in two NASA-selected projects exploring the application of multi-spectral infrared imaging for the monitoring of natural hazards. The first project will use drone-mounted imaging to develop new tools to measure thermal flux, monitor burn areas and quantify gas and ash emissions during wildfires. The second will use ground-based imaging to monitor changes in the thermal flux and gas outputs at three persistently active volcanic systems in Italy.
  • Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science Ph. D. student Ryder Strauss and Professor David Trilling published the paper “Exoplanet Analog Observations of Earth from Galileo Disk-integrated Photometry.” Along with other colleagues, the pair used data from the Galileo spacecraft’s distant encounters with Earth in 1990 and 1992 to create more than 1,500 usable measurements of the disk-integrated brightness of the planet.
  • Associate professor in the Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science Cristina Thomas co-authored a paper published in the Planetary Science Journal titled “Dimorphos Orbit Determination from Mutual Events Photometry.” In the paper, Thomas and collaborators provided an update to the pre-impact mutual orbit of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, begun in 2022, and estimated the post-impact physical and orbital parameters.
  • Director of Research Administration Mary Hanabury recently presented at two national research ethics conferences in Washington, D.C. At the Social Behavioral Educational Research Conference, Hanabury addressed the new and complex ethical challenges the research oversight world faces in an era of advancing technology and changing expectations surrounding personal information. At the Research & Medicine Annual Ethical Conference, she shared how human research protection programs can play a role in managing research activities that fall into a gray area between human subjects research and non-human subjects research.
  • Three members of NAU’s track and field team won Big Sky honors last week following recent record-breaking performances. Maggi Congdon was named Big Sky Women’s Track Athlete of the Week for the second time this season after breaking the university and conference record in the 800-meter at the Husky Classic. Colin Sahlman was named Big Sky Men’s Track Athlete of the Week after breaking the university’s 800-meter record at the Husky Classic. And in addition to being named Big Sky Men’s Field Athlete of the Week for the second week in a row at the Don Kirby Invitational, Garrett Bernt became one of the top five college weight throw athletes in the nation after breaking his own university and conference record at the NAU Tune Up.
  • The NAU men’s track team broke a university and conference record in the distance medley relay at the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend, Indiana. Colin Sahlman, Trenton Givens, Theo Quax and Nico Young ran the fastest distance medley time in the nation this season and the third fastest collegiate indoor distance medley relay of all time.
  • The NAU D2 IceJacks hockey team won the West Coast Hockey Conference title, beating the University of California Los Angeles in double overtime. The win earned NAU a spot in the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s West Regional championship in North Logan, Utah.
NAU Communications