Researcher of the Week: Adursh Iyer
Gamma-rays and black holes- It's not sci-fi, its research!
Adursh Iyer is a Physics major with minors in Astrophysics and Mathematics, who will graduate in 2020.
List any Scholars/Honors programs you are a part of: Honors College, URA Scholar
Title of your research project:
Searching for Gamma-Ray Emission from Black Hole Jets
Describe your project:
My research currently entails assessing the level of gamma-ray emission coming from the relativistic jets of ionized plasma ejected from Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), which host a supermassive black hole at their centers. This involves using the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope operated by NASA to generate what are called ‘Light Curves’, which measure the brightness over time of the jet. The big question is why these jets produce X-ray wavelength light, and confirming whether or not they produce Gamma-ray light as well allows us to determine between two different theories about the X-ray light origin.
Who is your mentor(s) for your project?
My mentors for this project are Assistant Professor Dr. Eileen T. Meyer of the Physics Department at UMBC and her graduate student Peter Breiding, who will soon be beginning his Postdoctoral Fellow position at West Virginia University. I had applied for a research assistant position that Dr. Meyer had open in her group during my sophomore year, and I was humbled to have been chosen by her to begin this project, and have subsequently become a better scientist and person because of this opportunity. Ever since I had a conversation with her and Peter when I was first starting out, I had immediately developed an interest in learning more about Gamma-Ray Astronomy since I knew so little at the time. They have both constantly pushed me to be the most successful researcher that I can be by encouraging me to ask valuable questions and having fun while I perform this research, as well as offering an invaluable amount of advice at every stage of the data analysis process and encouraging me to present my findings!
How did you become interested in this project?
I have been interested in Astronomy and Astrophysics from a young age and have always pondered about what types of marvelous phenomena occur beyond Earth and our solar system, so being involved in this project was natural for me. I already had considerable coding experience before starting this project, which has proven to be a major strength of mine since virtually all of my work involves using some variant of a high level programming language (Python, Perl, R, etc.).
What has been the hardest part about your research/what was the most unexpected thing about being a researcher?
The most challenging part about my project so far has been understanding the overwhelming amount of theory associated with Radio-Loud AGN and Black Hole Jets, since all of these concepts are typically contained within graduate level textbooks, which is far beyond what I would be expected to know at the undergraduate level. Because of this deficiency of mine, I have since devoted considerable time to reading countless Astrophysical publications and graduate texts ahead of time to progress my knowledge of these subjects, which has been an eye-opening and fun experience!
What has been the most rewarding part?
I would say that the most rewarding portion of my project so far has been the level at which people have been appreciative of what I have been able to accomplish so far and will accomplish in the future. The amount of data that I have been able to analyze so far has been massive, and the Light Curve Analysis in particular can be very computationally intensive. As a result, it can be intimidating to choose which specific results to include in a publication or presentation, so being encouraged to share my findings with the rest of the scientific community has been a very reassuring feeling.
How will you disseminate your research?
I will be presenting my research at the American Astronomical Society Meeting in January of 2019 in Seattle, Washington, as well as at URCAD in April. I will also be a coauthor of a publication that our research group plans to publish over the upcoming year in the Astrophysical Journal, which implements my recent findings.
What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research?
Have a clear goal of what topic you would like to explore and what you want to achieve in the long term, and have the ability to adapt to uncomfortable situations. Scientific research is all about presenting your findings in a concise and orderly matter, while at the same time being able to accept and respond to impromptu criticism. Therefore, it is imperative that you are able to devote time to becoming as much of an expert in your particular field as possible, while at the same time developing a broader knowledge of more abstract topics should the time come that you are questioned by experts.
What are your career goals?
After obtaining my Bachelor’s Degree in Physics, I plan on pursuing graduate studies up to a Ph.D. in Astrophysics. I intend to continue conducting research on events associated with High Energy Astrophysics, while potentially expanding my knowledge more broadly to fields like General Relativity and Astroparticle Physics. Some topics which I am considering studying at a high level include exotic phenomena such as AGN, Tidal Disruption Events, Neutron Stars, Pulsars, and Gamma-Ray Bursts (just to name a few!).
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Adursh Iyer is a Physics major with minors in Astrophysics and Mathematics, who will graduate in 2020. List any Scholars/Honors programs you are a part of: Honors College, URA Scholar ...
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Undergraduate Research
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Research Tutorials
Learn anywhere, at your own pace
Our self-guided tutorials cover a variety of
useful research skills. These tutorials are available in a variety of formats.
Some are videos and some are web pages (interactive and static). Many have been
produced by other libraries.
You’ll find great topics such as:
Research Basics
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Choosing a Good Topic
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Citing
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Understanding
Sources
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Evaluating Sources for Credibility
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Anatomy of a Scholarly Article
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What Are Primary Sources?
Finding Resources
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Where to Search
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Searching
for Articles
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the Everything Search
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Find
Primary Sources
And browse the full list here: https://library.umbc.edu/tutorials/index.php
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Our self-guided tutorials cover a variety of useful research skills. These tutorials are available in a variety of formats. Some are videos and some are web pages (interactive and static). Many...
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Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery
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Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery
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Wed, 26 Sep 2018 09:49:54 -0400
Researcher of the Week: Ghazal Ramezanifoukolaei
"Conducting research has made me a critical thinker!"
Title of your research project: Transcription Start Site Heterogeneity of the HIV-1 RNA genome
Describe your research:
My research project focused on the equilibrium between monomer and dimer conformations of HIV-1 RNA genome. Specifically, how a single mutation can shift the conformation and change the fate of the genome.
Who is your mentor(s) for your project?
Dr. Micheal Summers, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry .
How did you find your mentor? Why did you choose them?
I found my mentor through one of my TA's and also by searching different professors in chemistry and biology departments on UMBC website. I emailed different professors and I was fortunate to receive an interview with Dr. Summers. I chose my mentor and Summers lab as I liked the friendly and supportive environment and I thought I could learn a lot in such a setting.
How did you become interested in this project?
I was interested in HIV research and the possible therapeutics results that could be gained from it.
What has been the hardest part about your research/what was the most unexpected thing about being a researcher?
The most difficult part for me has been the uncertainty of whether or not a test would correlate with our hypothesis and also repeating an experiment multiple times to ensure the results are correct. Trials and tribulations are certainly part of doing a research.
What has been the most rewarding part?
The most rewarding part for me is seeing that all of my hard work has paid off and I got the expected result. Also, I was able to train and mentor students this summer. This was very rewarding to me as I could see their progress and see how they analyze results and perform experiments through time.
How will you disseminate your research?
I have presented my research at
SURF this summer. I am also planning to present this research at annual Undergraduate Research Symposium in the Chemical and Biological Sciences (CNMS symposium), and at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (
ABRCMS).
What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research?
Doing research is a great way to diversify your knowledge of a certain topic. I have certainly been able to become more of a critical thinker through doing research.
What are your career goals?
My career goals are to pursue either MD or MD-PhD.
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Ghazal Ramezanifoukolaei is a Biological Sciences major, with minors in Psychology and Chemistry, who will graduate in 2019. She is also, an Honors College Scholar. Title of your research...
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