West Virginia University Day on Tuesday (May 15) marks a new era in a long-term relationship between WVU , the state’s largest university, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which manages the world’s largest fully-steerable radio telescopethe 100-meter Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT).

The event builds on the already successful collaboration between NRAO and WVU ’s Department of Physics in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.

WVU and NRAO hope to strengthen current areas and collaborate on new areas of research during the event.

Some of WVU ’s attendees will include Provost Gerald Lang, Associate Provost Russell K. Dean, Eberly College Associate Deans Fred King and Joan Gorham, Department of Physics’Professor and Chair Earl Scime, Professor Frances Van Scoy from the Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering and the Dean of the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources Eugene Cilento.

Some of NRAO ’s attendees will include Fred Lo, director, and Phil Jewell, deputy director. Jay Cole, education policy advisor for Gov. Joe Manchin, also will attend the event.

The collaboration between WVU and NRAO was cemented in May 2006 when Drs. Duncan Lorimer and Maura McLaughlin, assistant professors in WVU ’s Department of Physics, were jointly appointed by WVU and the NRAO . They provide academic service to WVU , and spend their summers at NRAO where they also guide WVU students in research.

WVU and NRAO are currently involved in a joint venture to build a pulsar data acquisition machine for the 140-foot telescope at the Green Bank Observatory to allow in-class and independent research for WVU students. They also are working together on a project called the”Pulsar Search Collaboratory”which aims to involve West Virginia high school students in pulsar data analysis. McLaughlin recently mentored a University High School student, Dominic Ludovici, who was the fourth place finisher in the prestigious national Siemens Science Competition for his research on pulsars.

This summer, Lorimer and McLaughlin are surveying a large area of the sky for new pulsars using the GBT , and organizing a workshop at the Green Bank Observatory to host world-renowned experts in pulsar research.

Pulsars are rapidly-rotating, highly-magnetized neutron stars which emit regular pulses of radio emission. They are extremely accurate clocks and, therefore, have many applications in astronomy and physics.

For example, Lorimer and McLaughlin’s study in the October 2006 issue of Science magazine,”Tests of General Relativity from Timing the Double Pulsar,”supported Albert Einstein’s theories on gravity and relativity.

The WVU Day event will take place at the NRAO Green Bank Observatory in Pocahontas County, approximately 135 miles south of Morgantown. Members of the local press are invited to attend; however, the event is not open to the public.

For more information, contact Lorimer at Duncan.Lorimer@mail.wvu.edu or McLaughlin at Maura.McLaughlin@mail.wvu.edu or by telephone at 304-456-2146.