May 18, 2004
UW PROFESSOR RECEIVES NSF CAREER GRANT

        The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a five-year
Faculty Early Career Development grant to Daniel Dale, assistant professor
in the University of Wyoming Department of Physics and Astronomy.
        The $587,500 grant, NSF's most prestigious honor for junior
faculty members, will support Dale's efforts to quantify how star
formation changes on a cosmic scale over the latter half of the age of the
universe.
        The NSF established the CAREER program in 1995 to support the
early career development activities of teacher-scholars who are "most
likely to become the academic leaders of the 21st century," agency
officials say.  Awardees are selected on the basis of creative,
career-development plans that effectively integrate research and education
within the context of their institution's mission.
        "This award to Professor Dale demonstrates the university is
competitive in hiring highly competent new faculty," says William Gern,
vice president for research at UW.  "It underscores our long effort to
strengthen our research infrastructure to enable us to secure support for
research and training of national significance."
        Dale utilizes the Wyoming Infrared Observatory (WIRO) to measure
star formation in several thousand star-forming galaxies to answer how the
rate of star formation per volume changes over the age of the universe.
         "When the universe began it was at zero stars per volume," he
says.  "This number steadily increased as stars and galaxies formed.  Now
it is decreasing and approaching a minimum because the universe is
expanding, galaxies are getting farther and farther apart, and because the
available fuel is being used up."
        The project has educational as well as research goals.  Dale will
involve high school science teachers in the research so that they can
convey to their students the excitement of astrophysics.  He also wants to
bring middle and high school students from across Wyoming to UW "for an
eye-opening AstroCamp experience."
        Dale came to Wyoming in 2001 after receiving a B.S. degree at the
University of Minnesota-Duluth, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at Cornell
University.