NAMS Intern Wins First Place Award at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)'s Dana Knox Research Showcase 2022
April 2022
April 20, 2022, Samuel Granovsky, NAMS R&D Student Program Intern, was awarded first place for undergraduate presenters at the 2022 Dana Knox Research Showcase. The Dana Knox Student Research Showcase takes place at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) where nominated undergraduate and graduate students present their research in a symposium format. During the presentations, assigned judges determine the best three graduate and undergraduate presenters. Sam was nominated for the showcase by NJIT professor, Dr. Alexander Kosovichev.
Sam is working with NASA mentor, Irina Kitiashvili, Ph.D., research scientist (NASA) to perform computer modeling of the photosphere of known exoplanet host star HD121504 with iron absorption lines as a focus. Due to the convection currents present in the photosphere, the absorption lines at a particular small area of the star will either be redshifted or blueshifted depending on the relative velocity of the flow compared to the observer. Across the entire photosphere, these convective flows cause broadening of the spectral absorption lines which makes it much more difficult to precisely measure the overall velocity of the star via the doppler effect. This noise in stellar radial velocity measurements is known as the stellar jitter, and greatly interferes with the ability to detect Earth-mass exoplanets orbiting Sun-like stars via the radial velocity method. The work seeks to model the stellar jitter of the star HD121504 with the goal of removing its effects from radial velocity measurements to ensure more precise observational measurements to allow for the detection of low mass exoplanets around stars.
"To me, this award represents a reflection of what I have accomplished during the previous ten months of research and everything I have learned during my internship." - Samuel Granovsky
For more information, visit: https://www5.njit.edu/provost/events/studentresearchshowcase/
