{"id":29852,"date":"2026-09-30T14:35:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T18:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/?p=29852"},"modified":"2026-09-30T16:25:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T20:25:56","slug":"marshall-university-receives-nasa-grant-to-study-gamma-ray-signals-from-neutron-star-mergers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/2026\/09\/marshall-university-receives-nasa-grant-to-study-gamma-ray-signals-from-neutron-star-mergers\/","title":{"rendered":"Marshall University receives NASA grant to study gamma-ray signals from neutron-star mergers"},"content":{"rendered":"
Marshall University has received a $125,000 NASA R3 EPSCoR grant to study gamma-ray signals produced during neutron-star mergers. Among the projects selected for funding, Marshall\u2019s was the only one from West Virginia. The federal funding is part of a collaborative, short-term funding opportunity designed to quickly address urgent research needs important to NASA\u2019s missions.<\/p>\n

The research could offer new insight into how some of the universe\u2019s heaviest elements are formed while creating hands-on research opportunities for Marshall undergraduate students.<\/p>\n

The project, \u201cGamma-Ray Emission from Nuclear Isomers in Binary Neutron Star Mergers: A Path to Discovery in Multi-Messenger Astronomy,\u201d will examine gamma rays produced by nuclear isomers during collisions between neutron stars. Researchers will predict what those signals may look like, determine whether they could be detected and identify what future gamma-ray telescopes would need to observe them.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the big questions in astrophysics is where the heavy elements around us come from,\u201d said Dr. Maria Hamilton, professor in Marshall University\u2019s Department of Mathematics and Physics and principal investigator for the project. \u201cNeutron-star collisions act as cosmic furnaces where some of the heaviest elements in the universe, including gold and platinum, are produced. By predicting the gamma rays emitted by nuclear isomers created in these collisions, we may be able to learn more about how these elements form and determine whether their signatures could be detected by future space-based observatories.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of the project, researchers will also develop software to simulate how these signals would appear in gamma-ray detectors. The findings could help inform the science goals and detector requirements of future gamma-ray observatories.<\/p>\n

The grant will support two Marshall University undergraduate students through paid research experiences during the academic year and summer. Students will work in areas including nuclear astrophysics, computational science and detector modeling and are expected to have the opportunity to spend several weeks working at a NASA research center.<\/p>\n

The experience will provide students with exposure to a national research environment and potential careers in space science while strengthening connections between Marshall and NASA.<\/p>\n

For more information, contact Brittany Bruce, director of grant training, communications and engagement, at the Marshall University Research Corporation at \u00a0brittany.bruce@marshall.edu<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marshall University has received a $125,000 NASA R3 EPSCoR grant to study gamma-ray signals produced during neutron-star mergers. Among the projects selected for funding, Marshall\u2019s was the only one from West Virginia. The federal funding is part of a collaborative, short-term funding opportunity designed to quickly address urgent research needs important to NASA\u2019s missions. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":239,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-murc","category-news-releases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/239"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29852"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29860,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29852\/revisions\/29860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}