Funded
by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Centers of Research
Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST) program since 1998,
Tennessee State University's Center for Systems Science Research
(CSSR) has created a foundation for advanced research while
concurrently building the institution's research capacity in
astronomy and mathematics, and the institution's education
capacity in STEM. To date, the center has published more
than 170 research papers while supporting 35 undergraduate and 7
graduate students per year, of whom most are from minority groups
traditionally underrepresented in science.
In
addition to developing innovative new mathematical modeling
techniques, the Tennessee State CREST was part of an
international team that in 2006, discovered a new transiting
planet around the star HD 149026. The extremely shallow
transits, discovered by CSSR's Dr. Greg Henry, imply a large,
dense core of 60 to 70 earth masses -- fully two-thirds of
the mass of the planet. The new planet is so unusual, that
its formation challenges both of the primary competing models for
planet formation. In recognition of his contributions to
the planet-search field, Tennessee State was awarded an NSF Major
Research Instrumentation (MRI) grant to build new robotic
telescopes for placement in the Andes Mountains of northern Chile
at the Las Campanas Observatory.
