Seeing Stars

As a child, Scott Henderson spent countless hours squinting through binoculars at the stars. As a physics major and astronomy researcher at Lewis & Clark, he has enjoyed a substantial upgrade in equipment and a vastly magnified view of the cosmos.

In his first year of college, Scott was selected as a Rogers Science Research Program fellow. The collaborative research program teams outstanding students with faculty members. “It’s the lifeblood of what we do here,” says associate professor of physics Tom Olsen, Scott’s faculty research partner over two summers. “We collaborate, we get to think together, and Scott gets to teach me.”

“We try to provide a higher-level experience for students than the cleaning-the-test-tubes model,” says associate professor of physics Stephen Tufte, who also did research with Scott. For Scott, that has meant spending summers in the observatory on top of the science building, collecting data on eclipsing binary stars and researching the formation of new stars. “The best part was having free rein of the observatory,” says Scott. “Sometimes we would invite astronomy students up, open the dome, and just talk about how the universe works.”

Scott’s research experience gave him the competitive edge to secure an internship at the international Gemini Observatory in Chile, one of the leading research observatories in the world. “It was amazing trying to tackle huge questions about how the universe has evolved, and applying physics, which I love, to space,” says Scott. Culminating the experience, he presented his research findings at the American Astronomical Society conference in Austin, Texas.

Where all of this will lead next, Scott isn’t sure. Graduate school is almost certain, and teaching is a strong possibility. Beyond that, the sky’s the limit.