Sherry Fieber-Beyer


Sherry Fieber-Beyer, UND Department of Physics; UND Department of Space Studies

I received a Bachelor of Science at Minnesota State University-Moorhead in 2003. I am currently a graduate student in the Physics Department at UND, and will be graduating with a Master's degree in physics in December 2006. My plan is to continue on to obtain a doctoral degree in Earth Sciences. I began asteroid research as an undergraduate calculating light curves. Also as an undergraduate I assisted in building a spectrometer for the Paul Feder Observatory. These two experiences have culminated into what I love to do now......asteroid spectroscopy. My aspiration is to work for NASA after completion of a doctoral degree program. I would like to conduct research on a full-time basis and maybe some part-time teaching at the college level.

Rowen Poole

I've been involved in astronomy, one way or another, since I was 5 years old. Over the years I've been involved in many projects involving observational astronomy via the Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh (AAAP), where I have been a member since 1973. I've built telescopes from scratch, served as an executive officer in the AAAP, and worked towards a bachelor degree in astronomy way back when. In the early 1980's, I began work as an assistant astronomer at Allegheny Observatory that was, at that time, developing and perfecting the "MAP" (Multi-channel Astrometric Photometer). The MAP was designed to search for planets around other star systems. It was my years of work on this project that led to an interest in my own work in stellar photometry. In the late 1980's, I purchased an Optec SSP-3 photometer along with the standard Johnson UBVRI filters and have spent the better part of the past 20 years obtaining data on variable stars. My interest in T Tauri stars goes back to the dark ages, when they were only theories and not facts brought to life by the Hubble Space Telescope. I have also spent a great deal of time with the public, operating telescopes and giving lectures on the Universe at both Allegheny Observatory public nights/tours and at the AAAP's Wagman Observatory not far from my home. I learned of UND's Space Studies program in 2005 and promptly enrolled. My goal is to not only continue my work in photometry but also obtain my Master's degree. I would like to continue on and pursue a Ph.D. in the field, eventually, as well.

Vishnu Reddy

Vishnu Reddy currently works as a research staff associate with Drs. Mike Gaffey and Paul Hardersen on near-IR spectroscopy of near-Earth asteroids. Mr. Reddy is a graduate of the Space Studies program and is planning to start his doctoral work at the Department of Earth System Science & Policy in Fall 2007. His research interests include rotational studies of near-Earth asteroids and comets, astrometry, and instrumentation. As a successful amateur astronomer, Mr. Reddy has been credited with the discovery of 22 main belt asteroids, two binary NEAs, one supernova, among others. He also serves as the president of the Northern Skies Astronomical Society, a local astronomy group. Mr. Reddy is happily married to fellow amateur astronomer Pratibha Kumar, who works on communication issues related to long-duration spaceflight.