Physics professor collaborates with NASA

Caileane Thurston

lantern staff

In a groundbreaking collaboration between Butler CC and NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), Physics Professor Danny Mattern, renowned for his contributions to the field of astrophysics, is spearheading a cutting-edge project to revolutionize understanding of the cosmos. He began his career as a math teacher out of college and enjoyed teaching math but decided one day to take a Modern Physics course. He had an amazing professor and fell in love with physics and decided to pursue a masters degree in it. That led him into teaching math and physics at the high school level and eventually led him to a career at Butler CC.

As a result of this Mattern was selected to participate in the NASAAAA program (Astronomy Activation Ambassador). It was a competitive application process. After being selected to the program for 2023 he traveled to Denver for a one day training on classroom materials that NASA and the SETI (The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute provided for him. He was able to explore different ideas to use the material in his, and others individual classrooms. He has been able to incorporate the new material into his Physics 1 courses at Butler CC for students to discover properties about the Electromagnetic Spectrum and infrared light. In addition to the training and materials, last summer he traveled to Hawaii and went to the top of Maunakea to observe the telescopes on top of the volcano in action. He spent a night at the NASA Infrared telescope facility observing the telescope. He is now focusing on helping students understand light.

“Trying to help students understand the many different types of what we call light,” Mattern said. “The electromagnetic spectrum comprises everything from gamma rays, x-rays, ultraviolet light, visible light, infrared and radio waves. Visible light is just a very small portion of this.”

He thinks that a very important role they have as teachers is to help inspire the next generation of scientists. He hopes some of his students will get excited about what they are learning in his courses and maybe even become the next generation of NASA scientists or engineers. He has also encountered many challenges through his time.

“It’s always challenging for students to see where we use physics in everyday life,” Mattern said. “But I feel that is the most important aspect of what I do is to get students to see how things work in our Universe. Space exploration is just one very cool example of seeing physics in action.”

He was introduced to a lot of people working in the Astronomy field that he can continue to stay in touch with. They were very eager to tell him and others about what they are currently working on so that he can pass that information along to his own students and see where current research is being conducted.

“This project is pretty much completed now with the exception that we did get to keep the equipment for our labs so I will continue to use it for my physics classes for many semesters to come,” Mattern said.

He is always looking for his next project. Mattern currently does not have anything on his radar, but he has had some amazing opportunities to work with NASA on several projects in the past and he has a passion for learning that he hopes rubs off on his students so he will continue to look for his next big project. Mattern encourages students to be inspired, not give up and follow their dreams.

“Don’t give up. Pursue your dreams no matter what they are and do not ever let anyone tell you that you’re not good enough or smart enough,”Mattern said. “Believe in yourself. That seems to be a challenging thing for students today. Have confidence in your abilities and go get what you want. Hard work will eventually pay off.”