Three students from J.W. Dodd Middle School worked alongside scientists at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, this summer as part of a special project studying quasars. Their goal was to find a correlation between the central part of the quasar and the cool dust that swirls many light years away. If the students and teachers succeed it will be the first time that such a relationship will be established.
Dodd lead science teacher Mr. Tom Doyle and the three students; Rebecca Robles (grade 8), Rajiv Chanda and Adrian Payamps (both grade 7) worked under the guidance of scientist Dr. Varoujan Gorjian along with teachers and students from three other schools from July 15th to July 20th.
Besides working with the scientists, Rebecca, Rajiv and Adrian gave scientific presentations at the Spitzer Science Center. They also toured the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and saw the replica of the robot "Curiosity" that recently landed on Mars.
Funding for this trip was made possible through Mr. Doyle's participation in the NASA/Infrared Processing Analysis Center Teacher Archive Research Program.