The Maria Mitchell Observatory employs undergraduate students in astronomical research in the topics of Galactic structure, Galactic chemical evolution, stellar evolution, and variable stars. Projects take advantage of current observational data, including the resources of the Maria Mitchell Observatory's photographic plate collection, and are generally related to the research interests and activities of scientists on the permanent staff and visiting scientists supervising research. Ongoing research will focus on photometry of star clusters to determine the ages and the morphology of cluster evolutionary sequences and medium and high resolution spectroscopy of stars in both clusters and the Galactic field to study the chemical structure and evolution of the Galactic disk. The research will also include investigations of variable stars of particular current interest. The 80 year time-line provided by the Observatory's plate collection will be used. The program may expand to include theoretical astrophysics and other observational fields as the program diversifies. The Observatory intends to bring six students to participate in the REU program held in the summer and up to four students to carry out research in the autumn. Research projects are designed to introduce students to varied aspects of data reduction and analysis, using recently acquired as well as archival data, and to involve students in all aspects of a research work. The students are encouraged to view the projects as their own independent work, to take responsibility for all aspects of its execution and completion, and as a result, to obtain recognition through authorship of the scientific results.
