Education and Exploration:
Undergraduate Research at Rice

Tim Huegerich
Biophysics and Philosophy Double Major

Sophomore Tim Huegerich has been conducting research at Rice since he set foot on the campus. “I’ve been doing research since the beginning of my first semester,” the St. Louis, Missouri, native explains. “I was sent a list of possible projects through the Century Scholars Program. I was interested in physics, and I was particularly excited by the opportunity to work with data from a NASA satellite and learn about interesting and somewhat mysterious phenomena, like the aurora.” An aurora is a luminous atmospheric phenomenon appearing as streamers or bands of light sometimes visible in the night sky in northern or southern regions of the earth.

The Century Scholars Program offers a select group of Rice freshmen a $6,000, two-year merit scholarship and the opportunity to conduct research with a faculty mentor. Tim’s mentors in the program are his adviser, physics and astronomy professor and director of the Rice Space Institute Patricia Reiff, and postdoctoral research associate in physics and astronomy Jerry Goldstein.

Tim and his faculty mentors are studying the region of space around Earth dominated by the Earth’s magnetic field. “Understanding the dynamics of the plasma in this region is necessary for understanding phenomena such as the aurora and, more practically, for being able to predict space storms, which can knock satellites as well as ground electricity out of commission and potentially pose a danger to astronauts,” Tim says. “My project is, more specifically, studying the dynamics of an inner portion of the Earth’s magnetosphere called the plasmasphere, which is characterized by particularly high densities of plasma.”

In only a year and a half, Tim’s research work and skills have progressed from spending time learning the basics to performing very involved, independent tasks. “For the first several months, I just read about and discussed the necessary background with my advisers,” he explains. “My advisers also took me along to a meeting in Boston (during my second week at Rice!) to introduce me to the project. By the second semester, I was beginning to write my own computer programs for displaying the data and looking for the particular phenomena we wanted to study. I’ve gradually become more independent in making decisions about how best to do things, while continuing to meet regularly with my advisers to discuss what I’m doing and ask for suggestions. Now, I am preparing to present some of my results at a poster session at the Magnetospheric Imaging Workshop in Yosemite, California.”

Tim feels that his research experience has been enhanced by his ability to work with accomplished faculty members and the facilities that Rice offers. “The eagerness of my advisers to work with me is made obvious by their consistent attention and enthusiasm. The facilities are everything I could want. The opportunities to do such interesting research so early in my undergraduate career and to travel around the country to conferences have exceeded anything I could have imagined.”