Jun 09, 2005 - Claremont, Calif. -

Members of a Harvey Mudd College Clinic team made a trip to the Paris Observatory in Meudon, France, in May to present the results of their research.

The team, advised by J. Stanley and Mary Wig Johnson Associate Professor of Engineering Management Patrick Little shared with members of the French astronomy community the results of their project for NASA JPL Polar.

The project, titled "Antarctic Plateau Interferometer Concept Study," involved testing and designing a system to safely package and ship the new interferometer from Tasmania to Dome C in Antarctica, where it will be set up and take advantage of the site's clear view into space.

The team built a device that measured shocks encountered by containers on icebreakers and slow sledges over a 900-mile trip across the Antarcrtic ice. The team included (photo, left to right) Daniel Roche '05 (team leader), NASA JPL Polar liasion Mark Swain, Eph Lanford '06, Michel Guillon '05, Kristina Knepper '05, Val Olsen '06, and adviser Patrick Little.

"We were able to find data on the shocks and vibrations you find in conventional shipping," Little explained in describing the transportation of the device from Southern California to Antarctica. The unknown stresses of shipping the device on the final leg of the journey from Tasmania -- by icebreaker and sledge -- were unknown.

Dome C

"Devices to measure this are available for around $8,000," Little explained, "but our team built its own for one-tenth of the cost."

The French scientists were amazed at the quality of the work the student team did. "The use of undergraduates on a project like this is unheard of," according to Little, who is director of the Engineering Clinic Program.

Dome C, which is managed jointly by France and Italy, is one of a number of Antarctic plateaus used for scientific research. Instructions for operating the monitoring device were written in French and English because the team relied on the French transportation crews along the route to keep it working. It had to be turned on and off at regular intervals and memory chips needed to be exchanged. The team's briefing at Meudon was also done in French and English, thanks to exchange student Michel Guillon's mastery of his native language.

A detailed look at the team's work is available at:

http://webcms.hmc.edu:8080/cms/entity/www.eng.hmc.edu/clinic/projects/nasajpl/index.html