Loren Anderson, Ph.D.

Contact

Assistant Professor of Physics
Department of Physics
White Hall, Room G63
Morgantown,WV 26506

Phone: 304-293-4884
E-mail: loren.anderson@mail.wvu.edu

Research

Dr. Anderson’s research focuses on Galactic HII regions, the zones of ionized gas surrounding young massive stars. HII regions are one of the primary mechanisms that inject energy into the Galaxy. They are relatively rare but have a large impact on their surroundings.

Among other projects, Loren is currently working on building a large catalog of Galactic HII regions. This catalog will have numerous functions: it will allow us to better characterise the mean statistical properties of HII regions, trace Galactic structure, determine differences in star formation properties in a variety of environments, and examine the impact of evolved HII regions in triggering the creation of second generation stars. The research employs the Green Bank Telescope extensively in these investigations.

Dr. Anderson comes to WVU by way of Marseille, France, where he spent two years working on data from the Herschel Space Observatory.

Education

He earned his PhD from Boston University in 2009.

WiSE Women

The WiSE Giving Circle brings together West Virginia University alumnae and friends who want to impact the field of science by encouraging and mentoring young women in their pursuit of professional careers within the STEM disciplines – science, technology, engineering, and math.

Life and Death of Comets

With more awareness of comets and asteroids coming close to the Earth and even entering our atmosphere, it is crucial that we understand the life and death of these celestial bodies. Harvard-Smithsonian Professor John Raymond describes the way Sun-grazing comets come to an end. In particular, he gives us an account of the death of the Lovejoy comet that took place in December 2011 and how it was used to better understand the Sun’s corona.

New Research Award to Fund Doctoral Students

Mohindar Seehra, Ph.D. has created the Dr. Mohindar S. Seehra Research Award. The goal of this annual award will be to recognize a doctoral student who is advancing research in physics in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences by publishing his/her research in high-quality peer-reviewed physics journals. All physics doctoral candidates are eligible for consideration for the award.