Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy Rebecca Koopmann, ’89, organized the fifth annual NSF-sponsored ALFALFA (Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA) Undergraduate Team Workshop at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico January 16-18, 2012. The Arecibo Observatory is home to the 305-m diameter Arecibo telescope, the largest telescope in the world.

Lucas Viani, ’14, a Physics & Astronomy major, and Wyatt Smith accompanied Koopmann and a select group of 16 other undergraduate students and 11 faculty members from 14 colleges and universities across the United States. Together they conducted observing runs, toured the telescope, and learned about radio astronomy. Viani and Smith presented posters about their summer research 2012 projects with Koopmann.