Schar Astro-Scholars

Young Astro-Scholars Internship Program: Astronomy Data Analysis and Space Research for NASA Missions

Welcome to the Young Astro-Scholars Internship Program: Astronomy Data Analysis and Space Research for NASA Missions

This summer high school internship program is led by Dr. Peter Plavchan from the College of Science, and from the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. The program is an interactive STEM experience where students carry out a cutting-edge research program including the collection of data from the George Mason Observatories, and then analyze that data in support of genuine mission follow-up observations for the NASA TESS mission.

Detailed information about the program contents and how to participate can be found here. For summer 2024, we will be accepting applications for our third cohort. Please see the above link for more information, and/or email the Schar Executive Education program or Dr Peter Plavchan.

Journal of Astro-Scholars Research (JASR) at George Mason University

The Journal of Astro-Scholars Research (JASR) at George Mason University features original research papers from the Young Astro-Scholars Internship Program. These papers represent the culmination of a several month long independent student research efforts to collect and analyze real observational astronomy data, and follow through to the rigorous scientific interpretation of the analysis.

The authors are given some guidance as to the structure and content of their research papers, with no editing provided by Mason faculty and researchers. The authors are given documentation on how to carry out their analyses, but must independently complete the numerous steps involved with existing software tools. The data analyzed include data they have themselves collected with the George Mason Observatories Geller Telescope, and archival data not yet analyzed. All analysis is carried out directly by the scholars with minimal faculty input with an aim to provide genuine research products applicable to the current state of the art in the exoplanet observational astronomy field. All authors are alphasorted by first (or given) name.

Download Volume 1 (PDF, 24MB)

This inaugural edition of the Journal of Astro-Scholars Research features research papers from the Summer 2023 Cohort. The summer cohort collected and analyzed real observational astronomy data in support of exoplanet candidate validation of targets from the NASA TESS mission, in coordination with the NASA TESS mission Follow-Up Working Group, Sub-Group 1 focused on ground-based photometric light curve follow-up. All observations are contributing real constraints on the vetting of candidates from this mission.

Article No.	Title (Click for Individual Article PDFs)	Primary Lead Author(s)
0	Foreward	Peter Plavchan
1	Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 3792.01	Abigael Ellis
2	Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 5961.01	Adam Tong
3	Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 5237.01	Allen Riotto
4	Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 5938.01	Alan Zeng
5	Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 3506.01	Aarushi Kanigicherla
6	Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 3553.01	Aarushi Kanigicherla
7	Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 4064.01	Cecilia Howton
8	Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 4620.01	David Cao, Leo Pich
9	Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 3779.01	Estefanía Olaiz
10	Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 5944.01	Hanxian Wang
11	Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 5938.01	Harisudhan Harish
12	Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 3553.01	Jayarsh Singh
13	Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 3792.01	Kevin Hu
15	TESS object of interest TOI 5463.01 ground-based light curve validation	Samantha Lyman
16	Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 3779.01	Samuel T. Joseph
17	Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 3616.01	Tanush Bhardwaj
18	Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 3576.01	Tayba Suphian
19	Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 3737.01	Will Yang
20	Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 4620.01	Zirui Chen
21	Ground-based Observations on TESS Exoplanet TOI 5961.01	Rishab Seeda, Kabir Gulati
22	Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 5147.01, with V-shaped profile	Cindy Xiao, Amanda Xiao

Click here to download the JASR Volume 2 (hyperlink coming soon to a Drupal Page near you)


Article No.	Title (Click for Individual Article PDFs)	Primary Lead Author(s)
0	Forward	Peter P. Plavchan
1	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 5585.pdf(878.84 KB)	Aadit Abhilash
2	File Ground-Based Light Curve Follow-Up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest 3772.01.pdf(1.27 MB)	Adam Tong
3	File Ground-based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 5612.01.pdf(642.93 KB)	Adam Vazquies
4	File Ground-based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS object of interest TOI 5886.01.pdf(536.18 KB)	Adithi Arvind
5	File Ground-based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 3718.01.pdf(1.06 MB)	Aditi Burra
6	File Ground based light curve follow up observations and false positive testing for TESS Object of Interest 3772.01.pdf(382.56 KB)	Aiden Guan
7	File Ground-based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 5944.01.pdf(4.36 MB)	Aiden Wang
8	File Ground-Based Light Curve Follow-Up Validation Observations on TESS Object of Interest TOI-3798.01.pdf(2.66 MB)	Alex Choi, Nathan Vailikit
9	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 3945.01.pdf(378.37 KB)	Alex Zhou
10	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 5585.01.pdf(295.16 KB)	Andrew Kao
11	File Ground-Based Light Curve Follow-Up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 5612.01.pdf(3.86 MB)	Andrew Zheng
12	File Ground-based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI-5944.01.pdf(115.98 KB)	Andy Jiang
13	File Ground-based light curve validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 5356.01.pdf(379.02 KB)	Andy Wang
14	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 5868.01.pdf(284.59 KB)	Anirudh Gudishetty
15	File Ground-based light curve follow-up confirmation of the planetary nature of TOI 3873.01.pdf(1.02 MB)	Atharv Rege
16	File Ground-Based Follow-Up Light Curve Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI-5868.01.pdf(1015.29 KB)	Brandon Lee
17	File Ground-Based Follow-up Observations of TOI 3736 a.pdf(960.46 KB)	Brandon Wang
18	File Ground Based Light Curve Follow-Up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest (TOI) 5868.01.pdf(282.7 KB)	Camila Gomez
19	File Ground-Based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 5585.01.pdf(663.61 KB)	Charlotte Shi
20	File Ground-Based Light Curve Follow Up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest 5907.01.pdf(933.63 KB)	Colin Sardilli

Article No.	Title (Click for Individual Article PDFs)	Primary Lead Author(s)
21	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 3873.01.pdf(905.33 KB)	Dakota Jett
22	File GROUND-BASED LIGHT CURVE FOLLOW-UP VALIDATION OBSERVATIONS OF TESS OBJECT OF INTEREST TOI 3945.01.pdf(3.17 MB)	Daphne Valenta
23	File Ground Based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest (TOI) 5944.01.pdf(669.63 KB)	David Lu
24	File Ground-Based Light Curve Follow-Up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 6209.01.pdf(361.42 KB)	Ethan Yan
25	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI-5907.pdf(1.01 MB)	Evan Papps
26	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS Object of Interest (TOI) 5907.01.pdf(903.82 KB)	Ezra Kusnadi
27	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 5516.01.pdf(501.96 KB)	Hannah Roseberry
28	File Ground-based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 3945.01.pdf(963.97 KB)	Hanseon Lee
29	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 3805.01.pdf(377.94 KB)	Hanson Huang
30	File Ground-Based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 5191.01.pdf(262.14 KB)	Hogan Wang
31	File Ground-based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 5356.01.pdf(5.51 MB)	Ivan Zhang
32	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validations observations of TESS object of interest TOI 3521.01.pdf(1.11 MB)	Jasmine Sindhi
33	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS Object of Interest (TOI) 5886.01.pdf(839.25 KB)	Joshua Golden
34	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 4064.01.pdf(1.32 MB)	Justin Kim

Article No.	Title (Click for Individual Article PDFs)	Primary Lead Author(s)
35	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 5868.01.pdf(1.25 MB)	Kalan Warusa
36	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 5938.01.pdf(797.05 KB)	Kasey Davidson
37	File Ground Based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of Tess Object of Interest TOI 5886.01.pdf(331.21 KB)	Kellan Doré
38	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of Tess object of interest TOI 5907.01.pdf(194 KB)	Krish Mehra
39	File Ground-based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Of TESS Object of Interest (TOI) 5443.01 Transit.pdf(455.47 KB)	Kyle He
40	File Ground-Based Light Curve Follow-Up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest 5147.01.pdf(1.09 MB)	Lauren Daszynski
41	File Ground-based light-curve follow up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 5907.01.pdf(231.65 KB)	Leon Liu
42	File Ground-based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest (TOI) 5868.01.pdf(791.41 KB)	Lucas Chiang
43	File Ground-Based Follow-Up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 5907.01.pdf(298.53 KB)	Lucy Wang
44	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 5356.01.pdf(857.91 KB)	Mason Sholtis
45	File Ground-Based Light Curve Follow-Up Observations of TESS Object of Interest 3521.01.pdf(3.19 MB)	Matthew Kim, Jarod Jiang
46	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 5886.01.pdf(222.39 KB)	Maxim Wang
47	File Ground-based Light Curve Follow-Up Validation of TESS Observations for Object of Interest TOI 5191.01.pdf(1.34 MB)	Maya Sompalli
48	File Ground-based Follow-up Observations of TESS object of intrest TOI 3873.01.pdf(1.17 MB)	Michael Telesco
49	File Validation of TESS object of interest TOI-5886.01 through ground-based light curve follow-up observations.pdf(538.47 KB)	Mike Wang
50	File Data Science Validation and Ground-based light curve follow-up of TESS object of interest TOI 5907.01.pdf(568.88 KB)	Mikhil Kiran

Article No.	Title (Click for Individual Article PDFs)	Primary Lead Author(s)
51	File Ground-based Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI-3521.01 for Light Curve Follow-up Validation.pdf(1.93 MB)	Nairi Davidian
52	File Ground-based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 5868.01.pdf(160.57 KB)	Neil Mittal
53	File Ground-Based Light Curve Follow-Up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest (TOI) 5886.01.pdf(1.44 MB)	Nhi Nguyen
54	File Ground-based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI-6185.01.pdf(586.46 KB)	Nicole Liu, Jasmine Tran
55	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI-5147.01.pdf(672.53 KB)	Nishanth Karanam
56	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 5907.01.pdf(663.1 KB)	Norah McCuin
57	File Ground-Based Light Curve Follow-Up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI-3798.01.pdf(557.91 KB)	Pranav Siddineni
58	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS object of interest TOI 5907.01.pdf(3.7 MB)	Rutu Patil
59	File Ground-Based Light Curve Follow-Up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 5191.01.pdf(244.6 KB)	Ryan Holton

Article No.	Title (Click for Individual Article PDFs)	Primary Lead Author(s)
60	File Ground-based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 5886.01.pdf(716.77 KB)	Saaketh Gaddam
61	File Ground-based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 3669.01.pdf(1.32 MB)	Sangamitra Reshmy
62	File Ground-based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 3521.01.pdf(715.97 KB)	Serena Huang
63	File Ground-based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 3779.01.pdf(827.08 KB)	Siddharth Malhotra
64	File Ground Based Light Curve Follow-Up Validation Observations of TOI-5868.01.pdf(1.47 MB)	Sriharshini Vedula
65	File Ground-Based Light Curve Follow-Up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest 3777.01.pdf(614.46 KB)	Steven Liu, Aryan Umale
66	File Ground-Based Follow-Up Observations of TESS Object of Interest (TOI) 5372.01.pdf(1.78 MB)	Thomas O'Mary
67	File Ground-Based Light Curve Follow-Up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest 5886.01.pdf(802.78 KB)	Vincent Lu
68	File Ground-based light curve follow-up validation observations of TESS Object of Interest (TOI) 3862.01.pdf(740.26 KB)	Yena Kim
69	File Ground-based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 5901.01.pdf(198.67 KB)	Yuhan Cheng
70	File Ground-based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 5516.01.pdf(1.51 MB)	Zaara Zaman

Article No.	Title (Click for Individual Article PDFs)	Primary Lead Author(s)
1	Link coming...	Amanda Goya
2	Link coming...	Amanda Lai
3	Link coming...	Edward Young
4	Link coming...	Jessica Li
5	Link coming...	Joshua Chuang
6	Link coming...	Kenneth Peng
7	Link coming...	Mohib Ahmed
8	Link coming...	Risha Chepuri
9	Link coming...	Vibby Janardhan

Astro-Scholar Cohorts

Cohorts are listed in reverse chronological order, and them alphabetized by first name. Only last initials are provided to protect identities. Verification of participation can be provided by contacting Dr. Peter Plavchan (pplavcha@gmu.edu).

Aadit A

Adam T

Adam V

Adithi A

Aditi B

Aerin S

Aiden G

Aiden W

Alex Z

Alexander C

Andrew K

Andrew Z

Andy W

Anirudh G

Anton C

Aryan U

Atharv R

Ayyoob S

Brandon L

Brandon W

Bryce B

Camila G

Charlotte S

Christine D

Colin S

Dakota J

Daphne V

David L

Ethan R

Ethan Y

Evan P

Ezra K

Hannah R

Hanseon L

Hanson H

Hogan W

Hongyi Z

Ivan Z

Jarod J

Jasmine S

Jasmine T

Joshua G

Justin K

Kaeden B

Kai H

Kalan W

Kasey D

Katherine H

Kellan D

Krish M

Kyle H

Lauren D

Leon L

Lucase C

Lucy W

Mason S

Matthew K

Maxim W

Maya S

Michael T

Mickey Y

Mike W

Mikhil K

Nairi D

Nate V

Nathan T

Neil M

Nhi N

Nicole L

Nishanth K

Norah M

Pranav S

Rutu P

Ruyi S

Ryan H

Ryeen A

Saaketh G

Sangamitra R

Serena H

Siddharth M

Sophia Q

Sriharshini V

Steven L

Thomas O

Varun B

Vincent L

Vynavi T

Yena K

Yifan J

Yufeng D

Yuhan C

Zaara Z

Allyson W

Amanda L

Amanda G

Andre E

Celine S

Edward Y

Eric L

Hyonjin K

James T

Jason N

Jessica L

Joshua C

Kenneth P

Max W

Micayla P

Mohib A

Risha C

Roland Z

Vaibhav J

Vinil T

Aarushi K

Abby E

Adam T

Adiya S

Alan Z

Allen R

Allison S

Amorim H

Anna L

Arjun R

Brandon Y

Cecilia L

David C

Estefania O

Eugene S

Harisudhan H

Hridita C

Isabella C

Janson R

Jayarsh S

Johnny Z

Kabir G

Kevin H

Kevin P

Leo P

Mark W

Marshall C

Mayuka V

Rishab S

Rohan M

Rowan C

Sailee V

Samantha L

Samuel J

Shlesh S

Sreya E

Surbhi S

Tanush B

Tayba S

William L

William Y

Yaoyang L

Yuxuan J

Zara K

Zirui C

Aahil V

Aaron L

Al W

Alexander D

Alexander M

Amelia Y

Anqi F

Arjun R

Arlen K

Asher D

Ashwin P

Bocheng L

Charlie L

Chienyu S

Chih Kang L

Christine L

Dennis L

Fubo L

Gary W

Jeffrey J

Jerry Y

Jesse W

Joanna M

Jonathan Li

Joshua C

Justin D

Kevin G

Kriti S

Kyle H

Lawrence H

Leonardo W

Li Yun H

Liming Z

Nathan B

Naziha M

Patrick G

Raymond L

Ruize Y

Ryan M

Shaunak S

Shuohan Z

Steven O

Tianhui W

Tianyi L

Trisha P

William W

Xilong C

Xuanyu C

Zhen L

Young Astro-Scholars Internship Program: Astronomy Data Analysis and Space Research for NASA Missions

Journal of Astro-Scholars Research (JASR) at George Mason University

JASR Volume 1

JASR Volume 2 (Authors A -- C)

JASR Volume 2 (Authors D -- J)

JASR Volume 2 (Authors K -- M)

JASR Volume 2 (Authors N -- R)

JASR Volume 2 (Authors S -- Z)

JASR Volume 3 (Authors A -- Z)

Astro-Scholar Cohorts

Summer 2024 Cohort (A -- I)

Summer 2024 Cohort (J -- P)

Summer 2024 Cohort (Q -- Z)

Fall 2023 Machine Learning Cohort (A--Z)

Summer 2023 Cohort (A -- K)

Summer 2023 Cohort (L -- Z)

Summer 2022 Cohort (A -- K)

Summer 2022 Cohort (L -- Z)