A List
4/30/01

SLU PROFESSOR TO STUDY AT VATICAN OBSERVATORY

CANTON -- St. Lawrence University Associate Professor of Physics Aileen 
A. O'Donoghue will spend the 2001-2002 academic year on sabbatical, 
studying at the Vatican Observatory Research Group in Tucson, Arizona.
	O'Donoghue, who writes the "Mountain Skies" column for Adirondac 
magazine, will be working on the "NStars project," the goal of which is 
to determine the basic physical parameters (temperature, surface gravity, 
composition, chromospheric activity, etc.) for some 3,600 nearby stars. 
The project is funded by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory under the Nearby 
Stars (NStars)/Space Interferometry Mission Preparatory Science program, 
and headed by Richard Gray of Appalachian State University. She will work 
with the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT), a 1.8 m telescope 
at the Mt. Graham International Observatory, and the 2.3 m Bok Telescope 
at Kitt Peak National Observatory, both located near Tucson.
	In addition to her astronomy research, O'Donoghue also has an 
interest in the connections between science and religion that she plans 
to explore further during this time. Early this year, she participated 
in the physics and cosmology group of the Science and the Spiritual Quest 
discussions sponsored by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences 
in Paris, with the support of a grant from the Templeton Foundation.
	"Being in residence at the Vatican Observatory Research Group will 
provide me an unequalled opportunity to deepen my knowledge of the current 
work at the astronomy-religion frontier, and thus help me focus and develop 
my own experiences and ideas to a level suitable for presentation and 
publication," O'Donoghue said. Among her goals for using her research 
experiences is the development of a First-Year Program course at St. Lawrence 
on the theme of science and religion, and a similarly themed seminar course, 
"where students can explore the scientific, philosophical and theological 
questions from many disciplines and traditions."
      O'Donoghue is a graduate of Fort Lewis College, with a master's degree 
and Ph.D. from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. She joined 
the faculty at St. Lawrence in 1988.

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