MPS-Ascend: Can the Protostellar Magnetic Field be Used as a Signpost for Binary Formation Pathway?

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。派博士Erin Cox被授予NSF数学和物理科学提升博士后研究奖学金(NSF MPS-Ascend)，以开展一项与扩大STEM中代表性不足的群体的参与相关的研究和活动。考克斯博士的这一奖学金支持了她在一位赞助科学家的指导下开展的题为《MPS-Ascend：原恒星磁场可以用作双星形成路径的路标吗？》的研究项目。该奖学金的主办机构是西北大学，赞助科学家是贾尔斯·诺瓦克博士。银河系的恒星形成率非常低(~1-10%)，在模拟中解释这种低效率的唯一方法是考虑磁场。磁场很难观察到，因此它们仍然是恒星形成过程中最不被理解的方面之一。该项目将建立一个新的毫米波遗产调查--崩塌磁芯(CMC)调查--它将以前所未有的分辨率绘制约20个原恒星核心的磁场图。CMC的调查将为现场提供一个革命性的数据集，显示这一未被观测到的地区的精美地图。PI将为西北囚犯教育项目(NPEP)开发计算逻辑入门课程。黑人和西班牙裔男性在美国监狱人口中的比例不成比例。通过开发和教授这个新的班级给NPEP的同龄人，PI将为这些学生的教育做出贡献。NPEP是一个学位授予计划，这个新的课程将直接让这些学生参与数学和物理科学。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). PI Dr. Erin Cox is awarded a NSF Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ascending Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (NSF MPS-Ascend) to conduct a program of research and activities related to broaden participation by groups underrepresented in STEM. This fellowship to Dr. Cox supports her research project entitled "MPS-Ascend: Can the Protostellar Magnetic Field be Used as a Signpost for Binary Formation Pathway?", under the mentorship of a sponsoring scientist. The host institution for the fellowship is Northwestern University, and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Giles Novak.The star formation rate of the Milky Way is extremely inefficient (~ 1-10%) and the only way to account for this inefficiency in simulations is when magnetic fields are included. Magnetic fields are difficult to observe and thus they remain one of the least understood aspects of the star formation process. This project will establish a new millimeter-wave Legacy Survey-- The Collapsing Magnetic Cores (CMC) Survey-- which will map the magnetic field of ~20 protostellar cores with unprecedented resolution. The CMC survey will provide the field with a revolutionary dataset showing exquisite maps of this unobserved area.The PI will develop an Introduction to Computational Logics class for the Northwestern Prisoners Education Project (NPEP). Black and Hispanic men are disproportionately represented in the US prison population. By developing and teaching this new class to the cohorts in NPEP, the PI will be contributing to the education of these students. NPEP is a degree granting program, and this new class will be directly involving these students in mathematical and physical sciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.