News from the Chair

Diana Dragomir won a Women in STEM award from Advance at UNM to implement an initiative to improve retention rates in our undergrad degree programs.

Dragomir's project, Planets with Two Suns: Probing the Limits of Planet Formation will explore the puzzle of how planets form.

"Humans have long wondered whether there are planets around other stars (exoplanets), whether any are like Earth, whether life has developed elsewhere," she said. "While over 5,000 exoplanets have been discovered to date, this project takes the quest one step further by enabling a search for planets orbiting pairs of stars -- real-life "Tatooines." Developed in conjunction with a student in my research group, this research will help astronomers better understand how planets form."

Dragomir said she's looking forward to the discoveries ahead.

"This award will provide much needed support for launching this project, the results from which will help determine the direction in which to grow this research."

Funding for the Women in STEM Awards is from an anonymous gift made to UNM to support research by, and professorships for, women faculty in science, technology, engineering, and math. Income from the gift is used to help women assistant and associate STEM professors at UNM to establish new lines of research and to develop research collaborations. Funding this year also comes from the UNM Office of the Vice President for Research. To date, 62 women at UNM have been recipients of the awards.

For more information, see the UNM Newsroom article.

Congratulations, Dr. Dragomir!