A team of Dartmouth researchers has been selected to share in $2.3 million of NASA funds. The researchers will conduct studies that will facilitate auxiliary missions on a larger mission that will launch in 2012. Dartmouth's portion of the research will focus on "mechanisms that will cause the Earth's radiation belts to periodically drain away into the planet's atmosphere," according to a statement. The College is sharing the funds with researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Central Florida, Orlando, who have been assigned to conduct different studies in the same project. NASA has also provided $100 million in funds to be split between four teams of researchers conducting studies and supporting hardware for the main portion of the mission.
A six-week-old infant was killed in a hiking accident Sunday in Franconia Notch State Park, about 50 miles northeast of Hanover. The baby's 32-year-old mother was carrying her when a tree fell onto the hiking trail and hit them both. According to police, the mother and baby were hiking with the baby's father and grandparents, as well as another child, who were not on the path when the tree fell. The infant was rushed to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center by helicopter, where she was pronounced dead.
Bill Lawler, a former Big Green assistant soccer coach, has been named assistant men's soccer coach and will return to Hanover after five seasons away from Big Green sports. Last season, Lawler was assistant men's soccer coach at Skidmore and held the position of head coach at Manhattanville College in 2004. Lawler has also had coaching stints at George Mason University and at Babson College, where he played as an undergraduate and was voted most valuable player of the ECAC tournament in 1998. Lawler, who has also played professionally, will work primarily with the Big Green's goalkeepers.