It’s a big deal for undergraduates to have a published paper. Nationwide, only a small fraction of undergraduates make significant contributions to be published in their field of study. Then, to have a paper associated with “Big Science” like NASA’s TESS mission is even more impressive.
Yet perhaps the greatest reward comes in the special, not-so-quiet moments when students humbly share with their family and friends, “I helped discover a new planet today.”
Dr. David Baker, Physics Professor and Director of Adams Observatory
Published Papers with Students
Rodriguez, J. E. + 118 authors including D. Baker and Austin College students T. O’Dwyer, C. Schnaible, and B. Skinner (2021), TESS delivers five new hot giant planets orbiting bright stars from the full frame images, Astronomical Journal, 161:194 (25 pp), doi 10.3847/1538-3881/abe38a .
Huber, D. + 141 authors including D. Baker and Austin College students E. Natinsky, E. Page, C. Schnaible, and T. Yuan (2019), A hot Saturn orbiting an oscillating late subgiant discovered by TESS, Astronomical Journal, 157:245 (14 pp), doi 10.3847/1538-3881/ab1488
Submitted Papers with students
Gonzalez-Alvarez, E. + 55 authors including D. Baker and Austin College students T. O’Dwyer, C. Schnaible, and B. Skinner (2021), Astronomy and Astrophysics, submitted.
Giacalone, S. + 89 authors including D. Baker and Austin College students N. Cutting, L. Luker, T. O’Dwyer, C. Schnaible, and B. Skinner (2021), Validation of 10 hot and potentially terrestrial TESS planets, Astronomical Journal, submitted.
Conference Presentations by Students
Undergraduate Research in the Time of COVID: TESS Follow-Up Observations at Austin College’s Adams Observatory, D. Baker, N. Cutting, L. Luker, T. O’Dwyer, C. Schnaible, and B. Skinner, TESS Science Conference II, virtual, August 2021.
Search for Transiting Exoplanets at Austin College’s Adams Observatory in Support of NASA’s TESS Mission, T. O’Dwyer, C. Schnaible, B. Skinner, and D. Baker, 2021 Joint Spring Meeting of the Texas Sections of APS, AAPT, and Zone 13 of the SPS, Corpus Christi, Texas (virtual), April 2021. Awarded Outstanding Student Presentation.
Conference Presentations Including Students as Co-Authors
Detection of Transiting Exoplanet Candidates at Austin College’s Adams Observatory: Ground-Based Support for NASA’s TESS Mission, D. Baker, T. O’Dwyer, C. Schnaible, B. Skinner, Habitable Worlds 2021 Workshop, virtual, February 2021.
Photometric Observations of Possible Exoplanet Transits at Austin College’s Adams Observatory: Ground-Based Support for NASA’s TESS Mission, D. Baker, N. Hannon, A. Martin, and M. Winterrowd, in Exoplanets in Our Backyard: Solar System and Exoplanet Synergies on Planetary Formation, Evolution, and Habitability, 2020, vol. 2195.