ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, July 29, 1996 TAG: 9607290063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
NASSER BARGHOUTY is part of a team trying to estimate how much radiation astronauts must endure in long missions.
Enter Nasser Barghouty's office in Roanoke College's Trexler Hall and you'll see the typical professorial clutter - piles of paperwork everywhere, shelves of textbooks and reference materials, and computers storing the answers to all the upcoming tests.
But somewhere in those stacks is the beginning of what could be the next step in space exploration.
Barghouty is part of a team of physics scholars and students who are trying to estimate how much cosmic radiation astronauts must endure in long space missions.
Roanoke College is in its second year of a three-year $120,000 grant from NASA to study radiation exposure in space.
The participants include two former scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., who colleagues say have "written the book" on this area of physics - Dr. C.H. Tsao and Dr. Rein Silberberg. Their salaries are included in the funding.
Barghouty, an assistant professor of physics, is heading the study for the college. He chose two Roanoke College students to assist.
"When in space, you're hit with different sources of radiation," Barghouty said. "You will receive some dose of radiation. The question is: How much?''
Barghouty said the sun and other solar systems are the major sources of this radiation.
Tsao tried to explain the complex topic while scribbling on a chalkboard that had been turned into a giant doodling pad full of formulas and equations.
Tsao is known worldwide for his 30 years of work in this field. He serves as a resident scholar in the Roanoke College program and commutes from Washington. His colleague, Silberberg, communicates electronically from there.
They are comparing available data on nuclei in space that produce nuclear radiation so they can estimate exposure, Tsao said.
Because there has been little cosmic radiation research and data are limited, they use computer models to make these estimates.
Most of the data are based on previous nuclear experiments. The team also has access to NASA databases.
The findings could help NASA plan missions such as long stays on a space station or a mission to Mars.
"These predictions - without them you'd have to do the actual experiment," Barghouty said. "That's extremely costly."
Cost may have been one reason NASA awarded Roanoke College the grant, Tsao said. The same research by a professional laboratory could cost twice as much.
Barghouty said the opportunity to work on such a project is rare at a small liberal-arts school. This type of work usually is done at large research universities such as Virginia Tech, he said.
Barghouty also had an edge because he had worked with Tsao at the Naval Research Lab.
Barghouty selected Chau Nguyen, a rising senior, and Taylor Schuler, a rising junior, to work on the project this summer. Both are physics majors, and the experience is invaluable, Barghouty said.
The work they produce is publishable, he said, and being published as an undergraduate is rare. "It means you usually have something new," Barghouty said.
It took some time for the students to adjust to the scientific language and master the fundamentals of such a complex subject, he said.
"It's not that easy to involve students," he said. "You need some background."
"By the time they're useful, they're out of here," Barghouty said jokingly and smiled at his apprentices, who were sitting quietly in his office.
Both plan to go to graduate school: Nguyen wants to specialize in astrophysics; Schuler, in nuclear physics.
Barghouty said the research will continue as long as NASA funding is there. They will reapply when they are halfway through the three-year grant.
Roanoke College also is one of 80 colleges nationwide that participate in NASA's Joint Venture program, which uses electronic networking to link schools with the NASA mission database to aid in aerospace research. The college received more than $45,000 from that program.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Barghoutyby CNB