CU Boulder undergraduate Jamie听Principato鈥檚 ambition is to conduct space experiments to glean data essential to our understanding the cosmos.听A lofty goal for the astrophysics senior, but one she has been working toward for much of her life.
Principato designs instruments for use in particle astrophysics, which she particularly enjoys since it involves making tools that allow her to detect things that no one鈥攊ncluding those with perfect eyesight鈥攃an see. For Principato, who has very limited vision, this is her superpower.听
鈥淭here鈥檚 so much to be gained from space exploration,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 want to unlock knowledge that we can鈥檛 access because it鈥檚 too far away, we don鈥檛 have the technology to see it or it鈥檚 too dangerous and volatile to send humans.鈥�
Last December, she organized Project Chimera, an undergraduate-driven particle astrophysics research group. Since then, she鈥檚 led a group of 30 students from physics, astrophysics, engineering physics and computer science with a strong interest in conducting research, but who have had little to no experience yet.听
Chimera team members have learned how to design circuits, solder, plan and execute preliminary experiments, write a scientific paper, perform data analysis, and many other hands-on skills not covered in classroom work alone.听
The primary project was designing and building a space instrument that could measure cosmic radiation.听
The detector is an unpretentious 10-inch cube-shaped cardboard box that houses a scintillator attached to photodiodes (light sensors). A scintillator is a material that emits light when it interacts with ionizing radiation (charged particles). When a charged particle from a cosmic ray hits the scintillator, it deposits some of its energy into the scintillating material, which then releases that energy in the form of light. It is designed so that the photodiodes can measure the intensity of that light when it is emitted from space.听
This summer the detector flew on two Edge of Space Science鈥檚 high- altitude balloons (about 20 miles high). On the first flight in July, it flew with projects from baby直播app Space Grant Consortium and the next flight in August it flew with projects from CU Science Discovery.
鈥淲e detected many spikes in our photodiode readings during the two flights, and far, far fewer during the ground test,鈥� she said, 鈥渨hich tells us with some reasonable certainty that our detector was successfully measuring cosmic rays when it flew in the stratosphere.鈥�
Principato received funding for Project Chimera from the university鈥檚 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) and from COSGC, a NASA-funded initiative that gives students at baby直播app institutions the opportunity to design, build and fly space instruments and experiments. UROP funds students who produce new knowledge and creative work, helping them explore their interests beyond the classroom and to have the opportunity to get hands-on experience.听
鈥淲hile working on this project, I had people tell me everything about it was wrong and that we鈥檇 never get any data. But we did,鈥� Principato said. 鈥淒oing science is a creative process. The only way we can expand our understanding of space is by taking creative approaches.鈥�
Her love of science began at an early age and was encouraged by her dad. She recalls a conversation with him when she was 6 years old about the twin paradox and relativity.听
鈥淭hat started a pattern where dad would talk about these weird things that you can really only learn about if you have access to space or to things that can move at relativistic speeds,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ystematically testing things is part of how I experience the world, whether it was building batteries out of fruit to learn which fruit powers a lightbulb the longest or trying to figure out how to cross a street safely without being able to see the traffic.鈥�
Since high school, Principato has wanted to pursue a space science career. Filled with self-doubt about the level of her math skills, she settled on studying psychology at Florida State University rather than physics as she wanted. An opportunity to move to baby直播app a couple of years later was a new beginning for Principato to take a chance and follow her dream.
She enrolled at Arapahoe Community College. While there, Principato participated in COSGC projects. Her first project was in 2014 when she served as the lead scientist on a high-altitude-balloon experiment to measure cosmic radiation.
After transferring to CU Boulder in 2011, Principato鈥檚 passion for student-driven research intensified.
鈥淧hysics is the foundation for everything about our universe,鈥� she said. 鈥淧hysics is what brought me to CU.鈥�
The next step for Project Chimera is further examining the data to determine whether she can obtain more information about the cosmic rays the device detected. That will help to inform future design changes and experiments that could improve the detector in order to provide more detailed and reliable data.
鈥淭he ideal goal would be to accurately measure the momentum and energy of the particles we detect so we could make inferences about what kind of particle it is,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd maybe even what kind of astronomical object or event produced it. But that is a long way off. This is only the beginning.鈥�
Principato wants to recruit more students to the team who want to learn about particle astrophysics and instrument design and who want hands-on experience.听
鈥淭his is a funded research project and everybody is welcome,鈥� she said.
