Grant funds student astrophysics research in Taiwan

The National Science Foundation has awarded SUNY Oswego faculty member Shashi Kanbur a $138,545 grant to provide students interested in astrophysics opportunities to do research at a Global Laboratory partner in Taiwan.

The grant, titled “Astrophysics International Research Experience for Students in Taiwan: Connections Between East and West,” started this summer. It enables Kanbur and Ching Hung “Jean” Hsiao, adjunct instructor of Chinese, to mentor six students each of the next three years on research trips to the Graduate Institute of Astronomy at National Central University in Jhongli, Taiwan.

Student researchers from Oswego and other Upstate colleges and universities will advance work pioneered at SUNY Oswego on a more accurate means for determining the size scale of the universe, as well as several other groundbreaking projects related to Kanbur’s longtime research of Cepheid
variable stars.

“The projects the undergraduates will be doing are all absolutely on the cutting edge,” said Kanbur, an associate professor of physics working with the college president’s office as a Faculty Fellow.

The Global Laboratory is SUNY Oswego’s innovative undergraduate research experience offering students hands-on, immersive problem-solving opportunities at international laboratories in promising fields of study — science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

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