Fieber-Beyer Awarded $90,000 to Characterize Asteroid Surfaces

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences
Contact: Mike Gaffey/Phone: 701-777-3167
July 15, 2008

Fieber-Beyer Awarded $90,000 to Characterize Asteroid Surfaces

(Grand Forks, North Dakota): Sherry Fieber-Beyer, a doctoral student within the Earth System Science and Policy department at the University of North Dakota’s (UND’s) John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences, has been awarded a $30,000/year, three-year NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) for her research project entitled, “Mineralogical Characterizations of Asteroids Near the 3:1 Kirkwood Gap”. Competition for the grant was intense, but Fieber-Beyer’s overall score surpassed those of 43 other individuals who applied from across the United States.

Dr. Mike Gaffey, Fieber-Beyer’s faculty advisor and professor of Space Studies, said, “Being awarded this highly prestigious fellowship means that the planetary science community recognizes the quality of Sherry’s previous work, the scientific importance of her proposed research project, and her great future potential as a professional in the field.”

The NESSF program solicited applications from accredited U.S. universities on behalf of students who are working toward Masters or Doctoral degrees in Earth and space sciences at respective institutions. The purpose of NESSF is to ensure continued training of a highly qualified workforce in disciplines needed to achieve NASA’s scientific goals outlined by the NASA Science Mission Directorate objectives and NASA’s strategic goals. Awards resulting from the competitive selection were made in the form of training grants to the respective universities with the faculty advisor serving as the principal investigator.

The research program coordinates observations using the NASA IRTF SpeX instrument (Hawaii) with the Multi-Mirror Telescope Red Channel spectrograph (Arizona) to obtain high signal-to-noise Visible-Near-infrared spectra (0.3-2.5 µm) of asteroids in a zone centered on the 3:1 resonance. These spectra will be used to mineralogically characterize asteroid surfaces in this zone in order to identify their meteorite analogs (if any). If meteorite analogs can be identified, the cosmic ray exposure ages of those meteorites would empirically constrain the dynamical lifetimes of objects from the 3:1 resonance.

Fieber-Beyer received her B.S. degree in Physics/Astronomy in 2003 from Minnesota State University Moorhead, M.S. degree in Physics in 2006 from UND, and intends to graduate with a Ph.D. degree in Earth System Science and Policy from UND in 2010. She is the daughter of Dennis Fieber and Kevin and Terry O’Meara of Jamestown, North Dakota.

About UND Aerospace:
UND Aerospace, which includes the Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences at the University of North Dakota and the UND Aerospace Foundation (UNDAF), is an international leader in collegiate and contract aviation education and training services flying over 90,000 hours per year in over 120 aircraft. UNDAF also has facilities in Spokane, Washington, with Spokane Falls Community College; Lumberton, North Carolina, with Robeson Community College; Phoenix, Arizona, in conjunction with Chandler-Gilbert Community College; and Crookston, Minnesota, with the University of Minnesota in addition to its home-base in Grand Forks, North Dakota. With more than 1,900 students from throughout the world, the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences is the second largest college at the University of North Dakota. Undergraduate and graduate programs leading to a variety of rewarding careers in aerospace are offered through five different academic departments: aviation, atmospheric sciences, computer science, earth system science and policy, and space studies. The UND Aerospace training complex is the most technologically advanced environment for aerospace education, training and research in the world.

In 2008, UND Aerospace is celebrating its 40th anniversary. A series of regional alumni gatherings will be held across the country, as well as several events during UND’s Homecoming and 125th anniversary on October 13-18. For an updated listing of events, see www.undaerospace.com or www.undalumni.org. For more information on UND Aerospace, contact Karen Ryba at 701-777-4761 or go to www.aero.und.edu.

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