A prestigious award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will help John Beacom perform a forensic study of the universe. He will investigate how stars live, and how they die. The assistant professor of physics and astronomy has earned one of NSF's Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) awards, which recognize a young researcher's dual commitment to scholarship and education. He will receive more than $600,000 over five years to fuel an ambitious project titled "New frontiers in nuclear astrophysics." Beacom will search the skies for evidence of the nuclear reactions that make stars shine. The best clues are subatomic particles called neutrinos which are notoriously difficult to detect. Despite building giant particle detectors all over the planet, scientists only capture a handful of neutrinos every day. For the complete Ohio State news story, see http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/beacom_career.htm.
