Welcome!
The Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS), located at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory near Amado, Arizona, U.S.A., is an observatory built to study gamma rays from extreme astrophysical phenomena in the Universe. VERITAS is now scanning the night sky searching for remnants of exploded stars, distant active galaxies, powerful gamma ray bursts, and evidence of mysterious Dark Matter particles. This website is here to help you join the exploration!
If you’re a student, teacher, collaborator, or just someone interested in the fascinating field of gamma-ray astronomy, you’ll find useful information, lesson guides, photographs, and other multimedia right here!
News
VERITAS was featured on the July/August 2007 issue of CERN Courier. Click on the image to view a PDF of the article.
Mt. Hopkins, Ariz. — VERITAS, a new array for very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy, has just begun observations of gamma-ray air showers at the Smithsonian Institution’s Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in southern Arizona, U.S.A. A "first light" celebration will mark the event on April 28, 2007, at Whipple Observatory.
Meet a VERITAS Scientist!
Rene Ong
Welcome to the first installment of "Meet a Scientist" for the VERITAS project. These articles will be updated periodically, so please check back often to find out about members of the VERITAS science team! Our first interviewee is Dr. Rene Ong of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). He spoke with Michelle Nichols, an educator at the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum in Chicago, about the VERITAS project.
MN: Where did you grow up? What were you interested in? Is anyone else in your family involved in a science career?
RO: I grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. My father was a professor of aerospace engineering and my mother also had an advanced degree, so I was fortunate to have a strong academic background. I have one sister who is a doctor of dermatology. Both of my parents instilled a real love of learning in me and also a passion for travel since we spent several years abroad when I was growing up. In high school my main interests were sports (tennis, running, soccer), photography (sports editor of yearbook), books (both non-fiction and fiction), and the subjects of chemistry, history, and geography. Richard Feynman said that most physicists grew up with either a telescope or a chemistry set; for me it was the latter. At college at the University of Michigan, my major was chemistry and history for the first two years. It was only after a bit of an epiphany that I realized that I wanted to study physics. The epiphany was that I found out that to really understand how the world worked, in particular, atoms, I needed to know physics. I switched my major to physics and managed to get involved in a fair bit of research in my junior and senior years. Then I went to graduate school in particle physics at Stanford University. My Ph.D. was a measurement of the basic properties of one of the heavy quarks. I was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago where I made a switch to the field of very high-energy (VHE) astrophysics. I did this switch because of the excitement of the research and because I was able to work with a wonderful scientist by the name of Jim Cronin. I joined the faculty at the University of Chicago, stayed there for thirteen years in total, and then moved to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) which has made a major push in the emerging field of astroparticle physics. I have been at UCLA since 2001 and my group works on VHE gamma-ray astronomy and dark matter research.
MN: When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
RO: I think that I thought from an early age that I would become an academic, but I was not sure of the field. I loved history, and still do, but realized that history would be a better avocation (i.e. for fun) than a vocation. In college, I became excited by the study of physics, and it was there that I realized that physics would be a good career choice.
MN: What is your job for the VERITAS project?
RO: I have several roles on VERITAS. First, with my colleague Vladimir Vassiliev, I direct a group of researchers at UCLA including Ph.Ds, graduate students, undergraduate students. We are closely involved in the operation of the VERITAS array of telescopes and in the analysis of VERITAS data resulting in scientific publications. In the last few years, my own research with VERITAS has focused on a deep survey of the Cygnus region of the Galactic plane. This survey, comprising almost 250 hours of observations, has been a challenging effort, but it is almost complete and we are close to announcing first results. Second, I am currently the spokesperson for VERITAS, which means that I am ultimately responsible for the scientific direction and public face of this project which comprises about 80 scientists in four countries. This task requires a significant amount of "overhead" (i.e. meeting, administration, etc.), but it is an important job that needs to be done right. Fortunately, I am working with many scientists who are not only very bright, but also very collaborative in nature. My term as spokesperson will last until the end of 2010.
MN: Specifically, what have you been working on in the past month for VERITAS?
RO: I worked with my group at UCLA to complete the analysis of the VERITAS Sky Survey data. I organized the four-day winter collaboration meeting in Tucson, AZ. I hold regular calls of the VERITAS Science Board to discuss our progress on getting science analysis done and getting papers written.
MN: What do you do on a typical day?
RO: Working with my group in research activities typically takes a couple of hours per day. Teaching and teaching preparation also takes about two hours per day. Then, phone calls and email to keep track of things related to both teaching and research. Finally, seminars take about one hour per day.
MN: What's the best part of your job?
RO: The best part, by far, is when the experiment works well and you get good data and wonderful results (i.e. an exciting discovery). Teaching is also a very rewarding aspect of my job.
MN: How did your education and prior experience prepare you for your position on this project?
RO: Scientists are well trained to do the research work - this is a broad set of tasks, including building equipment, analyzing data, writing papers, giving talks, and so forth. I feel that my own education and prior experience did a very good job in these areas. My experiences in class and my work as a teaching assistant in graduate school certainly helped in trying to be an effective teacher. However, scientists are not as well trained in issues of management, dealing with the difficult interactions between smart (and opinionated) people, and so forth. These are areas where I have had to develop my abilities as I have progressed in my career.
MN: What are some things about working in a science field that you didn't know when you were younger that you know now?
RO: The biggest surprises for me are the many administrative aspects that are required to build large projects and to get a group of talented individuals to work together as a team. Another big surprise is the difficulty in getting funding and the time that is required to write proposals and letters of recommendation. At certain times of the year, I spend 50% of my time in a given week writing letters of recommendation!
MN: Have you faced any particular challenges in achieving your current position (or being in your current position)? If so, how have you dealt/how do you deal with them?
RO: Competition is a part of life and something the competition among scientists can be very fierce, and so at various stages of my career I have had to excel in some way or another. In my first faculty position, my tenure decision was delayed by two years because of various things beyond my control. This required two extra years of very hard work to overcome the hurdle and to finally get tenure. Another important challenge is the balance between one's professional and personal life. Fortunately I have a very supportive family and a beautiful wife and daughter to keep things in proper perspective.
MN: What is your advice to students who would like to pursue a science career or to work in a position like yours?
RO: It is very simple - just do whatever you are really excited about and it will work out. Do not work in an area that does not truly interest you in a deep way because there will be regrets later on.
MN: What do you want to tell young people who may lack role models in science about your job?
RO: There is room in science for people of all types of personalities and backgrounds. Yes, you need to have a certain basic intellect, but just as important are commitment, hard work and good common sense. Different viewpoints are really important in a moderate-to-large sized project like VERITAS, and they are respected.
MN: Who has inspired you in your life - or who inspires you now?
RO: My parents have inspired me, and several teachers, starting at an early age and continuing through graduate school, have been very important to me. In terms of research mentors, I have been very fortunate to work closely with a number of bright and wonderful people, including two Nobel Prize winners. I am inspired these days by very capable and fearless students and by senior emeritus colleagues who are still very active in research. Science is a wonderful pursuit because you become part of a world-wide network of interesting and stimulating people.
MN: What are your hobbies? What do you like to do in your spare time?
RO: I love reading, cooking, wine, music and travel. Hiking and running, are also things that I really enjoy. I admit to being also addicted to certain old TV shows (e.g. Mission Impossible).
MN: What do you think the future of space exploration or other science will look like in 10 years?
RO: I am mostly interested in the exploration of knowledge and less interested in the physical exploration of space (i.e. by humans). We live in a wonderful time where we may be able to answer some of the most fascinating questions imaginable - for example, what is dark matter? There have been remarkable developments in physics and astronomy over the last ten years and I expect that similar developments will happen in the next ten years. Worldwide, there has been a growth in the importance of the biological sciences, and this is a wonderful thing - however, physics and astronomy will provide equally profound discoveries in the next decade and beyond.
