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Doctoral student Hunter Brooks will utilize next-generation space telescopes to find and study low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in our galaxy.<\/p><\/div>\n
Brooks aims to discover and characterize tens of thousands of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the Milky Way Galaxy using the next generation of space telescopes, including the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope<\/a>, the Euclid Space Telescope<\/a>, and the SPHEREx<\/a>, short forr NASA\u2019s Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer.<\/p>\n What sets his research apart is that the specific stars and brown dwarfs he is studying are expected to be “metal-poor,” meaning they contain far fewer heavy elements (anything other than hydrogen and helium) than the Sun or most nearby stars.<\/p>\n \u201cBy studying this metal-poor population, I hope to shed new light on how many low-mass stars and brown dwarfs formed at different points throughout the Milky Way\u2019s history,\u201d Brooks said.<\/p>\n The NSF GRFP fellowship provides three years of financial support over a five-year fellowship period, including a $37,000 annual stipend and a $16,000 cost-of-education allowance to cover tuition and mandatory fees.<\/p>\n \u201cThis award recognizes Hunter\u2019s publication record and promise as a young scientist and I look forward to working with him on this project for the next three years,\u201d said Cushing, who is also director of UToledo\u2019s Ritter Planetarium and Brooks Observatory.<\/p>\n Since its founding in 1952, the NSF GRFP fellowship has helped ensure the vitality of the U.S. scientific and engineering workforce by recognizing graduate students with demonstrated potential to make significant contributions to STEM fields.<\/p>\n The UToledo College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics has celebrated a growing number of students earning nationally competitive fellowships in recent years. Brooks selection reflects the college’s commitment to cultivating research excellence and preparing graduate students to become leaders in their fields.<\/p>\n The University of Toledo is recognized among the country\u2019s top-tier research universities with the\u00a0prestigious R1 Classification<\/a>.\u00a0The University is only northwest Ohio university to\u00a0earned the recognition for very high research activity.<\/p>\n
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