Eight students from a solar physics research group led by Juie Shetye, New Mexico State University astronomy assistant professor, were selected to present their work at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) annual meeting last December in New Orleans, Louisiana.

“I believe this is a landmark moment for our department,” Shetye said. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that a team of undergraduate students from the Department of Astronomy have been selected to present their work at AGU.”

With over 25,000 attendees from more than 100 countries, AGU is the largest conference for Earth and space science in the world. It brings together scientists, educators, students, policymakers, journalists and communicators to share their research and network. Every student in Shetye’s group that submitted an abstract to the conference was selected, with seven students presenting a poster and one student giving an oral presentation.