Wentworth Professor Receives NSF Grant To Study Solar Eclipses
Benjamin Boe during a talk at the Museum of Science Boston last year
With access to new, cutting-edge capabilities, things are looking up for Wentworth Institute of Technology Assistant Professor of Physics Ben Boe and his students. Literally.
Made possible through the nearly $390,000 grant he was awarded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) earlier this year, Boe will engage in new research opportunities that will allow him and his students to study solar eclipses using advanced technologies.
“The grant will help us to analyze astronomical data of the solar corona from the recent few total solar eclipses—particularly in 2023 and 2024—and to run global magnetohydrodynamic simulations for each eclipse, which predict the structure, magnetic field, temperature, and velocity flows throughout the corona,” said Boe, who teaches in Wentworth’s School of Sciences & Humanities. “It will enable a significant production of research using eclipse data collected over the past several years, and the generation of new models that predict the physical state of the corona by my colleague Cooper Downs at Predictive Science Inc., who received a collaborative award for this project as well.”
Through grants like this one, the NSF provides research funding for groups and individuals in the name of science, supporting a wide range of research in fields including engineering, astronomy, geology, zoology, and many more.
Having previously earned a doctorate in astronomy from the University of Hawaii, advised by Shadia Habbal, who has led NSF-funded solar eclipse expeditions for more than two decades, Boe said he is grateful for the possibilities the award will deliver.
“I was thrilled to hear the news about receiving the grant,” he said. “The federal funding environment for research has become more tenuous in the past few months, so I was not confident we would receive the award beforehand. The fact that we were awarded this grant in the current landscape highlights the importance and novelty of this research, as well as the excellence of our team.”
With the grant’s assistance, up to six undergraduate co-op positions will be funded as part of the research project at Wentworth, Boe said.
“This co-op support is particularly important for aiding the new Physics major, as well as the Applied Sciences major at the university. The funding will also facilitate travel to national research conferences and pay for peer-reviewed publications about the research, which are costly and more difficult to do without external support,” Boe explained. “These co-op positions will allow undergrads to get hands-on experience with research, enabling a pathway into science for Wentworth students.”
Eager to begin the research process, Boe said he is ready to examine any and all discoveries that emerge.
“I am looking forward to spending a considerable amount of time producing new scientific results on the corona,” he said. “Every eclipse generates new and unique findings, and I am excited to explore the physics of the corona with this unparalleled set of data.”