When the funding and scheduling stars align, Patricia Cheng gains access to the most powerful telescopes ever invented. Which means the Cal State Fullerton astronomer can go light years beyond typical views of heavenly bodies. She can unearth clues to our planet’s origins and perhaps even see into our future.

Cheng, a professor in the Physics Department, is renowned nationally for her knowledge of the stars and planets in “nearby” solar systems – those within 25 parsecs (about 82 light years) of us. She studies the building blocks of new planets and offers insights into the formation of Earth.

More than that, however, she looks for existing planets that might already sustain life. In other words, she’s doing a little interstellar house-hunting.

“As scientists and explorers, we want to know what possible destinations are out there,” Cheng says. “Much of this research may not appear immediately relevant. But for future generations? Yes, I think it will be.”

NASA continues to support Cheng’s research project, which has received more than $800,000 in grants over its 15-year span. The money pays for telescope time, travel and research assistance, among other things.

“Her work has been extraordinarily well funded, which speaks volumes for the interest it generates,” says Roger Nanes, chairman of the Cal State Fullerton Physics Department. “Her research provides a perspective that might otherwise leave a gap in scientific understanding.”

For Cal State Fullerton, Cheng’s work also provides learning opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise be available to students at a school without a degree program in astronomy. Five of Cheng’s students have gone on to earn or pursue graduate degrees in astronomy at San Diego State, and several are now working astronomers.

Research, Toy Props, and the University

“One of the advantages of Cal State Fullerton is that we understand the importance of a teaching faculty and of involving undergraduates in our research,” Nanes says.

Because Cheng is a researcher and a teacher, both science and her students benefit from her expertise. Cheng’s office on the sixth floor of McCarthy Hall sheds light on the ways she connects with her astronomy students as well as those in her basic physics and upper-level classical mechanics classes.

A Hula-Hoop helps her explain how objects maintain orbits, while a Frisbee-like toy allows students to visualize protostellar disks that are thought to presage planets. Other teaching tools and space-related trinkets accumulated during her 11 years at Fullerton line shelves behind her desk, while stickers from dozens of NASA missions – including two on which Cheng worked directly– cover the inside of her door.

“I’ve had students ask, ‘Is this a gift shop?’” she says.

Cheng’s research office on the same floor reflects both her love of the outdoors – pictures of animals abound – and her passion for space exploration. Photos of stars, planets and moons offer a window to a world still full of mysteries waiting to be solved.

The sophisticated tools of Cheng’s sleuthing are so few that only select astronomers get to use them.

Focusing In

Land-based equipment such as that at the McDonald Observatory in Texas or at other facilities in Australia and Chile might only be useful on 200 clear nights a year. If an astronomer needs 10 days to do thorough research, it means such an observatory might accommodate just 20 researchers a year. So Cheng has to know exactly what she’s looking for, and where she’s likely to find it.

She has narrowed her inquiries to roughly 60 stars that, like our sun, are all on the cool side – about 8,000 degrees Kelvin. They are the most likely supporters of life-sustaining planets. Once she identifies a star, Cheng has to mask its brilliance so she can study its planets as well as the interstellar dust and gases.

Cheng gets more than a visual take on her targets, thanks to infrared, ultraviolet and far ultraviolet technologies. Even X-ray and radio waves help to distinguish inconsequential dust from particles that someday might harbor life.

Her research yields few epiphanies, but it’s replete with small successes that add pieces to an almost unfathomably big puzzle. In this system, are there any planets similar to ours? What’s the makeup of the circumstellar gas? Is it first or second generation? At what temperature is it likely to condense?

“Sometimes what you don’t see can be your best clue,” Cheng says. “It’s like when you get your paycheck. If there’s a deduction of 6.2 percent, you know it must be for Social Security.”

It takes years of experience mixed with equal parts reasoning and resolve to get the puzzle pieces to fit. But the painstaking work is all worthwhile when published results bring about greater understanding, Cheng says.

“Facing the challenge,” she adds, “is when it gets fun.”

That challenge first got under Cheng’s skin in the mid-1980s, shortly after the native of Taipei, Taiwan, had earned a master’s degree in physics from the University of Maryland. She wanted extra money to get a second master’s in computer science, and one day she saw a job listing in Physics Today. A scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center was looking for a paid assistant.

“I told him up front that I was a pure physicist and didn’t have a big interest in astronomy,” she recalls. “He said, ‘Let me see if I can change your mind.’

“Within a year, my mind was changed.”

A thesis adviser suggested Cheng focus on interstellar matter because there were so many unknowns to investigate.

“I wanted to study the ‘big bang,’ not the big vacuum,” she says. “But that turned out to be some of the best advice I ever received. I wouldn’t trade career paths with anyone.”

Now she gets to combine two loves – research and teaching. In evaluations, students use words such as “exciting,” “involving” and “enjoyable” to describe Cheng’s teaching techniques, which include using “Roadrunner” cartoons to help explain Newton’s Law.

Her desire to share her love of astronomy is evident in the campus Planet Walk, which she

designed and saw installed just south of McCarthy Hall. Photos and information panels show the earth and planetary neighbors in their true scaled distance from the sun.

The chance to shepherd such projects as well as perform far-reaching research are two reasons Cheng enjoys her work at Cal State Fullerton. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that she gets to live in Southern California.

“I love the sun,” she says with a smile.