Dr. Paul S. Hardersen

Paul S. Hardersen currently serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Space Studies at the University of North Dakota. Hardersen received his PhD in geology in May 2003 (specialization: asteroid near-IR spectroscopy) from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. Before earning his doctorate, Hardersen received a Master's degree in geology from Rensselaer in December 2001 and dual degrees (BS in geology; BA in political science) from Iowa State University in 1997.

Currently, Hardersen serves as Director of the UND Observatory; Director of the North Dakota Space Grant Consortium (NDSGC); and Director of the North Dakota NASA Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). Leading efforts to renovate and expand the UND Observatory since 2005, the UND Observatory now offers three Internet-controllable optical telescopes and one Internet-controllable radio telescope. Research and educational activities focus on small body astrometry and photometry, variable star photometry, and visible-wavelength stellar spectroscopy.

As head of the ND Space Grant and ND NASA EPSCoR programs, Hardersen is aggressively working to refocus and expand the programmatic activities of these entities, which will be highlighted by emphasis on Research Focus Areas (RFAs) in North Dakota. These RFAs (in astronomy/planetary science, planetary space suit research, Earth sciences research, small satellite design and development, and materials science research) will provide targeted money to five research areas with the goal of expanding the quality and quantity of NASA research in North Dakota.

Individual research activities have primarily focused on main-belt asteroids, their near-IR spectra, and surface compositions. Past and upcoming research papers discuss the near-IR spectroscopy of the M-type asteroids, asteroid 1459 Magnya, and select S-type asteroids. One key, future question that will be investigated is the abundance of igneous asteroids in the outer main asteroid belt. Finding significant numbers of these thermally processed asteroids in this part of the asteroid belt will have significant implications on the early solar system heating mechanisms that have been proposed.

New research efforts in solar physics are just underway with dual projects beginning in late 2009 on the study of the intrinsic rotations of sunspots and the origin and evolution of X-ray bright points in the solar corona. These efforts involve fruitful collaborations with the National Solar Observatory, Sunspot, New Mexico, and the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. This research has the overall goal of developing a robust, self-sustaining solar physics research group in North Dakota.

In the Department, Hardersen teaches courses on basic observational astronomy, astronomical spectroscopy, solar astronomy, radio astronomy, and astrobiology.

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