Interplanetary to International: Starlight on Abigail Reichbach's Research

“Out of this world” accurately captures the focus of Senior Science Research student Abigail Reichbach’s research project.  

Transcending planetary boundaries, Abigail, known as Abby by her classmates, centered her research around micrometeorites. Inspired by University of Washington professor Donald E. Brownlee’s 1993 research on interplanetary dust particles (IDPs), Abby worked to find what percent of Brownlee’s estimated 40,000 tons of IDPs that fall on earth annually were micrometeorites.  She spent the summer preceding her junior year formulating ideas so that starting in September she had a topic, research question, and a methodology to begin applying in January.  

In spring, she took her research to the next level: her grandmother’s rooftop. The micrometeorites’ iron and nickel composition enabled Abby to collect them from a marked-off quadrant using a magnet. She dedicated this summer to sorting through and examining her collected particles using a microscope and a camera. As the school year began, she analyzed her data and finalized her results. Abby shares her cosmic findings, “I determined that 113.3 metric tons of micrometeorites fall on earth each year, which is .28% of all IDPs.” Abby acknowledges that her findings leave room for future research, but currently, there is no published research breaking down Brownlee’s estimate. 

Throughout her research journey, Abby worked closely with Mr. Frazer, her science research advisor, and Dr. David Deamer, a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz and her mentor. Bringing her findings from space to Earth, she presented at the International Forum for Research Excellence, a conference hosted by the renowned science research honor society Sigma Xi, in Washington, D.C. on November 15th. 

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Full interview with Abigail Reichbach: 

How did you get this opportunity? 

Abby: “As a science research student you have to be working on research with a scientist or professor. I’ve worked with the University of California, Santa Cruz professor David Deamer since the summer before junior year. We email and use Zoom to communicate. He was the one who sent me the email to apply to the conference. High school students sent their abstracts and research, and from there I was selected to present.” 

What inspired your research project? 

Abby: “I've always been interested in space science, and I also really like biology. We had to find a mentor who would help us with the process, so I contacted Dr. Deamer to find something that would combine astronomy and biology... astrobiology. You can apply research outside of one field and could do the research hands-on instead of just in a lab.” 

What was your biggest challenge? 

Abby: “I would say the distance between my mentor and I. He lives on the other side of the country, so the time difference was a bit of a challenge. While I didn’t get the experience of doing a lab with my mentor next to me, I learned a lot experimenting independently.”  

What did you find most enriching about this experience? 

Abby: “Honestly, the biggest takeaway from this was meeting other passionate students. Also, it was enriching speaking to professionals who are there to help you learn and take you seriously… it’s cool to teach experts about something new.”