Montgomery County Community College students are putting an ear to outer space to help scientists detect important signals coming from the universe.

Under the guidance of Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy Kelli Corrado, independent study students Loujain Ahmed, Ruby Armor, and Thomas Quinn have been building and testing horn radio antennae—small radio telescopes designed to detect strong astronomical and terrestrial radio signals. After constructing the antennae and their bases in fall 2024, they are now working on calibration and signal detection using specialized software. This summer, they will further their research skills at the Green Bank Radio Observatory in West Virginia.

“They are looking at pulsars to find stochastic gravity waves in the universe,” said Corrado, “as well as those emitted by black holes.”

West Virginia University Astrophysics Professor Maura McLaughlin, a global expert on pulsars, co-founded NanoGrav, an international collaboration dedicated to exploring the low-frequency gravitational wave universe through radio pulsar timing. She and Senior Education Officer at Green Bank Observatory Sue Ann Heatherly co-founded the Pulsar Search Collaboratory. They are seeking help from students from across the country to sift through the overwhelming amount of data they have, and to find the pulsar signals they are trying to locate.

The Pulsar Search Collaboratory runs a six-week online course that certifies students to sift through data and isolate these signals, said Corrado.

“They need astronomers who know what they’re doing to analyze these signals coming from space,” she said. “These pulsars emit radio beacons but get drowned out by radio frequency interference. Things like GPS, radio, Wi-Fi and cell phones. You need to filter the real signals from the noise to find pulsar signals, which in turn, are used to detect gravity waves and then find black holes. Sifters don’t need all the physics. They need basic physics and training.”

The project is being funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation’s Partnerships in Astronomy & Astrophysics Research and Education (PAARE) program, which aims to improve astronomy and astrophysics research and education by fostering long-term partnerships that provide authentic research experiences and broaden participation, especially for underrepresented groups. The grant will cover MCCC’s expenses on the project for the next five years, including this summer’s trip to the Green Bank Observatory in August, said Corrado.

The three MCCC students said the experience working on this project has been really exciting.

“I've enjoyed every aspect that I've worked on so far,” said Ahmed, a Physics major, “and I'm glad to have made great friends and a great mentor in Professor Corrado.”

“It’s been a great opportunity to gain exposure to a lot of interesting topics we wouldn’t otherwise have had a chance to learn about,” said Mechanical Engineering Science major Armor. “I knew radio astronomy existed. I was less aware how tangible it was to work on a small scale. I think of the large array of telescopes in the desert or the Green Bank facility. To be able to work on a small scale to learn how everything works is quite interesting.”

"It’s been a great experience," said Quinn, a Mechanical Engineering Science major. "I already had some knowledge of radio astronomy, but this opportunity allowed me to gain a lot of hands-on experience. It was exciting to get certified and be able to grade and plot pulsar readings."

The goal is to teach students the basic skillset of how to sift through the data to find the pulsars and potentially engage their curiosity enough to want to pursue a career in the field.

To fill the ranks, Corrado has collaborated with Ann Schmiedekamp, Ph.D., Physics Coordinator from Penn State Abington to provide a transfer pathway for students from MCCC to continue their work at the undergraduate, graduate and doctoral levels. In the meantime, Corrado has also been recruiting students from area high schools to get involved and on the career trajectory too.

“If we can do this for other students,” said Corrado, “their research will carry them through college, then into a master’s degree program and to a Ph.D. Then they become experts and then there will be more of us to do this important work.”