The Center for Astrophysics, Space Physics, and Engineering Research (CASPER) is a stand-alone research center located at Baylor University.
CASPER teams conduct research in a number of theoretical and experimental areas and offer both basic research as well as engineering and design opportunities for graduate, undergraduate, technical support and high school students as well as grade school, middle school and high school teachers.
Dusty Plasma research on this site (including that on the ISS employing the PK-4) is supported by the NSF and NASA.
Rene Laufer, Ph.D., associate research professor and head of the Space Science Lab in Baylor's Center for Astrophysics, Space Physics and Engineering Research (CASPER), is one of the creators of a TED-Ed lesson titled "How far would you have to go to escape gravity?"
Imagine looking under your couch and instead of finding fluffy dust
bunnies, you see the dust is arranged in straight lines—you might wonder what caused this order. Scientists are experiencing that same feeling, not with dust under a couch, but with electrically charged dust in the microgravity of space.
What does it mean to oversee research at a Christian research university? On this week’s episode of Baylor Connections, host Derek Smith interviews Truell Hyde, Ph.D., vice provost for research, about how his office works with faculty across campus to encourage and support meaningful research that impacts the world around us.
A team of researchers led by CASPER director Dr. Truell
Hyde was informed in February of a decision by NASA and
the National Science Foundation to support their proposal to
conduct fundamental dusty plasma physics experiments aboard
the International Space Station.
