Katie Mulrey ’08 studies cosmic rays in Antarctica and blogs about it for Scientific American.  As part of a doctoral program, Mulrey is a researcher with NASA’s ANITA collaboration in Antarctica. Now in its third campaign, ANITA (Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna) is a balloon that hoists 2½ tons of antennas, communication equipment, cables, and data recording instruments. Once aloft, ANITA detects radio signals from neutrinos and cosmic rays, the highest energy particles in the universe. When Mulrey left UMW with a degree in physics and mathematics, the New Hampshire native went straight into a Ph.D. program in high-energy particle astrophysics at the University of Delaware. In her first year, she chose ANITA as her research project, in part for the opportunity to travel far away. “Traveling to remote parts of the world to do science is my cup of tea,” Mulrey said. The project includes 30 team members representing 10 institutions in the United States and abroad. … [Read more...]