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Students at Western can get involved in astronomy research as early as their freshman year. We have an active group of undergraduate researchers investigating the interstellar medium. The astronomy lab provides students with ressearch space, computers, and IDL software. Come talk to me to get involved in astronomy research, but in the meantime, a good place to start is the Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics cumulative index by topic and link to articles by volume. To learn more about the interstellar medium, read Interstellar Dust Grains by Bruce Draine, ARA&A, Vol. 41 (2003).

You can search for papers and recent results on your favorite topic where the professionals search at NASA ADS Search. You might want to check out my tips for starting out with journal papers.

me at the AAT I completed my Ph.D. in Physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in February 1999, studying the extinction and polarization of background starlight by dust in clouds at high galactic latitude as well as star formation in those clouds. For an example of my research, check out the dust properties in the remarkable cloud toward HD 210121. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to observe at the Anglo-Australian Observatory (in the photo, that's me on the catwalk) and the South African Astronomical Observatory. I visited the UK Schmidt Telescope at the AAO from January through August 1997. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn about the telescope and I am grateful to the staff at the Schmidt and the Anglo-Australian Observatory for their generous hospitality. My current research is focused on the distribution and extinction properties of dust at high latitude using all-sky photometric surveys.