Transient Phenomena

in Astrophysics:

A Durfee Foundation

Student Challenge Awards Project

  My name is Maria Inez Velazquez and I spent the first two weeks of the summer of 1999 in Los Alamos, as one of the eight Earthwatch students working with astrophycists Galen Gisler, Don Casperson, and Todd Haines. The whole experiance was easily one of the most moving of my life; while in New Mexico I was confronted with the celestial majesty of the skies and the more prosaic wonders of my peers.

  I am currently a senior at the Springfield High School of Science and Technology. This will be my second year as chief editor of the Sci Tech literary magazine, Cyber, my second as a member of Juniour Statesmen of America, and my first as president of Amnesty International. I became involved in the Earthwatch experiance during my juniour year when Mr. Mathras, one of the science teachers at my school, asked me if I was interested. Of course, I was. Who wouldn't be?

  I would like to dedicate this page to the many people who have assisted me in my spiritual and educational growth. Unfortuantely, as that list would span the seventeen years of my life, including teachers, friends, and mentors, I would like to simply say that Galen Gisler and his family, Don Casperson, Todd Haines, Miss Donna, Andie, Nathan, Matt, Adam, Mariana, Jim, Kristen, and all the UGS's remain in my heart.

  If you are a Earthwatch Student Challenge Awards recipient who is going to Los Alamos, then I highly recommend that you do the recommended reading and look at some articles related to astrohysics in Asimov, Science Fiction Age, and Analog: Science Fiction and Fact. Such articles are published monthly and are generally a lot easier to understand than some of the recommended reading. Taking notes is a good idea. Due to the sheer volume of things you will actually learn while at Los Alamos, don't worry about what you don't understand, and certainly don't let a lack of understanding keep you from going. There will be more than enough people willing to explain it all to you when you arrive.

 

  I looked up at the sky. I had never seen so many shooting stars. I tried to sleep on one side. Ahead of me were stars. I turned to the other side and there ahead of me were stars. I sat up. Now I was in the middle, surrounded by stars.
  Something happened. You know, a desert star type thing.... It was something to do with particles or light or maybe because it was just so very, very dark. It was as though the particles that were me split apart and went out to the stars and the particles that were the stars split apart and came to me. Back and forth. Forth and back...

-- Katherine Arnoldi, The Amazing "True" Story of a Teenage Single Mom

  The most amazing thing about Los Alamos is its quietness. At night, there were times when it seemed as if the town truly belonged to desert and humans themselves were the encroachers. No cars, no people walking, no dogs barking. Just silence, a desert deep silence, the kind that can be overwhelming. I guess it's the kind of silence that forces the spirit to turn in on itself, to question its foundations. I know that after two weeks in the desert, I grew. I'm not sure if I became I better person, but I think so. I think so.

To contact me:

riariav@yahoo.com