The Sci-Files – 11/03/19 – Mike Pajkos – Exploring Stellar Explosions

Chelsie Boodoo and Daniel Puentes
November 4, 2019

This week on The Sci-Files, Chelsie and Danny interview Michael Pajkos.

Mike is a 3rd-year graduate student in the Physics and Astronomy and the Computational Mathematics, Sciences and Engineering doctoral programs at Michigan State University.

Stars act as the building blocks of the universe. From launching different elements around the Galaxy to hosting other planets, studying how stars behave grants a better understanding of the cosmos. Mike’s research focuses on the signals emitted from the explosive ending of massive stars by investigating the final ‘heartbeat’ they give off–new signals called gravitational waves.

If you’re interested in talking about your MSU research on the radio or nominating a student, please email Chelsie and Danny at [email protected]. You can ask questions for our future episodes here. Check The Sci-Files out on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube!

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About the Contributors

Chelsie Boodoo, The Sci-Files Host

Chelsie is a Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. student at Michigan State University. She studies what happens to the extracellular matrix of cells after they have been stressed. She co-hosts "The Sci-Files" with Daniel Puentes. Together they explore the different topics that MSU students research on "The Sci-Files" at WDBM.

Daniel Puentes, The Sci-Files Host

Daniel is a graduate student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, where he does research at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. His research involves measuring the mass of radioactive nuclei, and how it can tell us how protons and neutrons are arranged inside of a nucleus. This research also helps scientists understand how the elements were created in different stellar environments! At WDBM, he and Chelsie Boodoo co-host The Sci-Files.

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