NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) for FY 2013 in Australia

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This action funds Joanna Corby of University of Virginia to conduct a research project in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences area during the summer of 2013 at University of New South Wales in Kensington, New South Wales. The project title is "Mapping Molecules in the Center of the Milky Way." The host scientists are Dr. Maria Cunningham and Dr. Paul Jones. The project utilizes Australia's radio telescope observatories to constrain the physics and chemistry of Sagittarius B2, a molecular gas cloud in the Milky Way's Galactic Center with active star formation. The project maps spectral line emission and absorption by organic and pre-biotic molecules and provides information on the spatial distributions of these species that is essential for determining the chemical reaction networks that produce them. Data analysis focuses on molecules that provide specific insight into physical processes, including the passage of shocks. This details the kinematics and geometry of highly energetic processes in the central 600 light years of the Galaxy. Broader impacts of an EAPSI fellowship include providing the Fellow a first-hand research experience outside the U.S.; an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture and language. These activities meet the NSF goal to educate for international collaborations early in the career of its scientists, engineers, and educators, thus ensuring a globally aware U.S. scientific workforce. Furthermore, the data resulting from this collaboration will be used to train and motivate a younger generation of scientists, drawing on the Fellows work with high school students in central Virginia on 8-month research projects in astrochemistry. Project data will also be used in planned research in 2013-2014.