Daryl Haggard

Daryl Haggard

Daryl Haggard is a first year graduate student in physics at San Francisco State University. She received her undergraduate degree in Classics at St. John's College in Santa Fe, N.M. Daryl's research at SFSU involves looking at the giant star cluster Omega Centauri using NASA's newest orbiting X-ray observatory, Chandra. With Chandra's high resolution at X-ray wavelengths she pinpoints possible binary stars, including cataclysmic variables that are predicted to form in the cluster. With accurate X-ray positions in hand, her collaborators at SFSU and at Yale are using these Hubble Space Telescope data as well as ground-based images to identify the stars that are emitting the X-rays. The goal is to classify the binaries, thereby helping to constrain current theories of stellar interactions in globular clusters. As a NSF GK-12 fellow, Daryl also spends part of her time working on inquiry-based science with middle school students in San Francisco.