Astronomers Find Second Smallest Exoplanet

Planet hunters, including Tennessee State University (TSU) astronomer Gregory Henry, have detected an extrasolar planet that is only four times the mass of Earth. The planet is the second smallest exoplanet ever discovered and adds to astronomers' growing cadre of low-mass planets called super-Earths.

"This is quite a remarkable discovery," said astronomer Andrew Howard of the University of California at Berkeley, or UCB. "It shows that we can push down and find smaller and smaller planets." He announced the discovery at the 215th American Astronomical Society meeting held Jan. 4-7, 2010 in Washington D.C.

Dubbed HD156668b, the planet orbits its parent star in just over four days and is located roughly 80 light years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Hercules. Howard, along with California Planet Search team colleagues Geoff Marcy (UCB), Debra Fischer (Yale), John Johnson (CalTech), and Jason Wright (Penn State), discovered the new planet with the 10-meter Keck I telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawai’i.

The researchers used the radial velocity or wobble method, which relies on Keck’s High Resolution Echelle Spectrograph, or HIRES instrument, to spread light collected from the telescope into its component wavelengths or colors. The result is called a spectrum. When the planet orbits around the back of the parent star, its gravity pulls slightly on the star causing the star’s spectrum to shift toward redder wavelengths. When the planet orbits in front of the star, it pulls the star in the other direction. The star’s spectrum shifts toward bluer wavelengths.

The color (velocity) shifts give astronomers the mass of the planet and the characteristics of its orbit, such as the time it takes to orbit the star. Nearly 400 planets around other stars have been discovered using this technique. But, the majority of these planets are Jupiter-sized or larger.

"It's been astronomers long-standing goal to find low-mass planets, but they are really hard to detect," said Howard. Because low-mass planets produce such small spectral shifts, it is valuable to have complementary observations that support the discovery. CPS team member Gregory Henry (TSU) made repeated brightness measurements of the planet's host star with one of TSU's automatic telescopes located in the mountains of southern Arizona. "These observations show there is nothing intrinsic to the star, such as dark spots similar to spots on our Sun, that might mimic the observed spectral shifts," said Henry. "This provides additional evidence for the existence of the planet."

Howard added that the new discovery has implications for not only exoplanet research but also for solving the puzzle of how planets and planetary systems form and evolve. Astronomers have pieces of the formation and evolutionary puzzle from the discovery of hundreds of high-mass planets. But, "there are important pieces, we don’t have yet. We need to understand how low-mass planets, like super-Earths, form and migrate," Howard said.

The goal of the CPS Eta-Earth Survey for Low-Mass Planets, which was the brainchild of Marcy, was to find these super-Earths. So far the survey has discovered two near-Earth-mass planets with more on the way, Howard said.

Tennessee State University Forensics Program Students Excel In Qualifying Tournaments

Tennessee State University’s forensics team won 135 awards during the fall semester and is poised to surpass the number of awards earned in previous years, Director of Forensics Kimberley LaMarque said.

In the two-day 2009 Holiday Frolic tournament hosted by the Ohio State University Dec. 4-5, the team won 19 awards and placed third in the team sweepstakes of the 30 competing colleges and universities. Two weeks prior, two team members nabbed 21 of 26 possible awards at the 2009 Tennessee Porch Swing Tournament, hosted by Carson-Newman College and Belmont University.

“Forensics is the competitive art of public speaking. The more our students compete, the better they and the program will become. Competitions prepare the students to think on their feet and give them the necessary tools to produce under pressure,” said LaMarque, who also serves as associate professor in the University’s Department of Communications.

LaMarque credited the stronger showing to having an increased coaching staff, allowing for a specific plan of learning objectives to be created for each team member. Emily Kofoed, assistant director of the forensics team, and TSU alumnus Clarence Ball, assistant coach, have both joined LaMarque’s administrative team within the past year.

“Since joining the forensics team, I’ve become a faster thinker and more confident speaker. Preparing speeches for tough competitions and challenging practices has also made me a better writer. There’s nothing like it,” said first-year team member Derrick Johnson, a sophomore speech communications and theater major from Cleveland, Ohio.

LaMarque said the team prepares to compete in at least six tournaments per semester and often hosts one tournament on campus each fall. However, budget restraints have limited the team’s participation to only four-to-five events per semester.

Each tournament consists of 11 different categories of competition, including interpretation, prepared and limited preparation events. Andrea Durham, who serves as the team’s president and is a second-year team member, said she loves the interpretation events, which include prose, dramatic, poetry, dramatic duo and program of oral interpretation.

“In 10 minutes, I get to tell a story that wouldn’t be told otherwise. In a world of instant gratification, 10 minutes can be a long time to get your point across and keep an audience captivated,” said Durham, a junior biochemistry major from Bowie, Md., about her love of competition.

Next up for the team is the Mid-Year Championships hosted by University of Texas-Austin this month. LaMarque said the team members have worked hard and are prepared to win even more awards at the upcoming tournament.

Highlights from 2009 Fall Commencement

Tennessee State University celebrated its 2009 Fall Commencement on Dec. 18 awarding degrees to more than 400 graduates.

Students from the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, College of Health Sciences and School of Graduate Studies made up over half of all fall graduates. As they depart from TSU as graduates, they are prepared to continue educational studies toward advanced degrees and find success in entering the global workforce.

The 2009 Fall Commencement at TSU marked the institution’s 98th year and proved to be evidence of a continued tradition of excellence in lifelong learning. Judge Monte Watkins, a 1970 graduate of Tennessee State University, delivered the commencement address. The legendary Coach Edward Stanley Temple was honored as the recipient of the Doctor of Humane Letters. 

See photos from the 2009 Fall Commencement here.

Tennessee State University Among Most Admired Companies for Minorities in Research Science

The 24th Black Engineer of the Year Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Conference announced the 2010 Most Admired Companies in Research Science.  The list represents a full array of employers who are working in critical areas of U.S. health care, agriculture, education, government and industry.

This list, published for the past five years, is unique because it is a survey of the readers and editors of US Black Engineer & Information Technology, Hispanic Engineer & Information Technology, Women of Color and Science Spectrum Online magazines regarding their impressions of diversity programs at today’s top organizations. Tennessee State University was among the universities and colleges that made the list.

Despite the economic recession, many of the top companies have maintained their commitment to diversity, retention and recruitment according to the survey of professional minority research scientists, technologists and engineers.  This is in part because of the global demand for scientists and researchers who remain the backbone of knowledge-based economies. Without them we would not have the worldwide web or many other advances we take for granted in our lives, from health care to food safety, even engineering feats such as power stations or the Channel Tunnel. 

The awards come at a time when the country is facing a science and technology crisis: Baby boomers are retiring, more restrictions are being placed on immigrating students and science workers, and foreign countries are fast catching up to the United States technology lead.

The Obama Administration is attempting to reverse these trends by making science research a priority. President Obama set a goal of spending 3% of our GDP on Research and Development. According to Obama, “I believe it is not in our American character to follow – but to lead. And it is time for us to lead once again.” However, to meet these goals, 10,000 more scientists, students, postdoctoral fellows, and technicians, as well as 100,000 highly qualified math and science teachers, must be contributing to America’s scientific enterprise by 2015. 

According to Dr. Tyrone D. Taborn, the founder of the conference and publisher of US Black Engineer & Information Technology magazine, “This survey is important because it gives employers an insight to minority employees’ attitudes and increases their abilities to recruit outstanding scientific talent. “Recruiting women and minorities, only to see them walk out of the door within a few years is a loss of investments and opportunity.”

Retaining promising employees is just as important as recruiting them. Companies are moving beyond simply acquiring a diverse work force and calling it quits. Taborn pointed out, “Our survey shows that many employers are successfully managing, embracing, and cultivating a diverse work environment. Minority employees give their employers improved marks on managing diversity and being fair.”

“I am thrilled to present and honor the organization’s that are providing opportunities for our nation’s brightest stars,” says Taborn. “Clearly, if we are to bring on a new cohort of science talent, we must begin by recognizing and applauding those in the employer community who are actively seeking a diverse workforce of the nation’s most talented scientists, technologists and engineers.”

About the conference:
The 24th BEYA STEM Global Competitiveness Conference has attracted top professionals and students from every part of the nation and every field of science, engineering, and technology for more than two decades. Throughout the conference, our seminars and workshops will offer new information on a variety of topics affecting multicultural technology professionals such as career advancement, diversity programs and specialized industry updates. The Career Fair will link qualified engineers, scientists, business professionals and students with employers both regional and national. The conference is sponsored by Lockheed Martin Corporation, The Council of the Engineering Deans of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and US Black Engineer & Information Technology magazine.

See the complete list of the 2010 Most Admired Companies here. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR INCLEMENT WEATHER CLOSINGS

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