Astronomy & Astrophysics

The following is taken from the Clemson Graduate School News web page (03/16/2006).

Simon Schuler, a PhD student in Physics and Astronomy at Clemson University has been awarded the prestigious Leo Goldberg Fellowship. Each year since 2003, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) has awarded a five-year post-doctoral fellowship to one outstanding young astronomer. The recipient commits to four years of researching at a NOAO location and one year of researching and teaching at a university.

During his time as a Goldberg Fellow stationed at NOAO/South in La Serena, Chile, Simon plans to pursue research focused on the chemical abundances of metal-poor stars as well as expand upon his dissertation findings. "This fellowship will provide a great start to my career as a professional research astronomer, allowing me to pursue the science questions that are of most interest to me as well as granting the opportunity to collaborate with some of the current 'Greats' in the field" said Schuler.

Schuler graduated with his B.S. in 2001 from the University of Miami. He continued his studies at the University of Nevada where he obtained his M.S. in 2002. He will complete his Ph.D. in Physics at Clemson University in May 2006. His doctoral thesis, titled "Chemical Abundances of Solar-Type Dwarfs in Open Clusters" focuses on the abundances of elements in stars similar to the sun and was directed by Clemson Associate Professor Jeremy King.

During the course of his doctoral studies, Simon has worked with a number of collaborators from various institutions, including University of Chicago/Yerkes Observatory, Ohio State University, University of Toronto, and the Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg Observatory in Germany, and his research has made use of data from some of the foremost observatories in the world, including the 10-m Keck telescope, the 9.2-m Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET), the 8.2-m Very Large Telescope (VLT), the 4-m Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, and the 2.7-m Smith telescope at McDonald Observatory.

Background on the Leo Goldberg Fellowship
The fellowship is named in honor of Leo Goldberg's tremendous contributions to the field of astronomy. A past chair of the Astronomy Department at Harvard and of NASA's Astronomy Missions Board in the 1960s and early 70s, Goldberg was consistently committed to identifying and nurturing outstanding young scientists, challenging them and providing support and opportunities for success.