UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

My main role at TCU is continuing development and improvement of undergraduate classes in both Physics and Astronomy, particularly the Astronomy labs and extra-curricular activities. We use an innovative new lab technique that utilizes Voyager software for the Mac, a planetarium simulator that is easily accessible to students. We also are implementing a shared database of Astronomy course material, such as lecture notes, labs, homework and exams on the Web in conjunction with several other Universities. http://personal.tcu.edu/~dingram/index.html.

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

Observational Cosmology
We detect and catalogue lineemitting and starforming galaxies associated with damped Lyman alpha QSO absorption systems, using a broadband multicolor photometric technique combined with low resolution spectra to distinguish Primeval Galaxy candidates in the field near the absorbers. This yields integrals of the auto-correlation function of damped absorbers and high redshift proto-galaxies, which can then be used to constrain theories of cosmic structure formation. The spectral energy distributions can also be used to determine star formation histories and ages of the Primeval Galaxies, from which we can recover the evolutionary history of ordinary galaxies like our own.

Starlight Correlated with Damped Lyman-Alpha Absorbers, dissertation (1997).

Rotational Line Widths and the Size of M31 as a Distance Calibrator, Astronomical Journal 110, 634 (1995).

Cataclysmic Variables
Multicolor photometry and high resolution spectroscopy can be used to determine radial velocity solutions for eclipsing novae, which then yields mass estimates for the stellar components. The extent and morphology of the accretion disk in binary systems can also be determined, leading to a better understanding of the role magnetic fields play in mass transfer.

The Masses of V838 Herculis (Nova Herculis 1991) and QZ Aurigae, Astrophysical Journal 420, 830 (1994).

Photometry and Spectroscopy of Nova Herculis 1991, Pub. Astronomical Society of the Pacific 104, 402 (1992).