.:Summary:.

In order to examine how the star formation rates of galaxy cluster change as a function of their environment as well as a function of time, 24-micron data from the Spitzer Space Telescope as well as I-Band Hubble Space Telescope data of three intermediate redshift galaxy clusters of differing mass, number of members, and degree of relaxation were observed in a number of environmental areas such as morphology of the galaxies in the cluster, color magnitudes, cluster density, and radius from the cluster center. This data were also correlated against galaxies not in clusters to examine how a cluster environment affects SFR, and against average SFRs of high and low redshift galaxy clusters from other studies to see how the SFRs have changed over the evolution of the universe. I found that SFRs of galaxies in and out of clusters were affected by their morphologies, with a small amount of SFR in elliptical type galaxies, then a large spike in SFR of early type spiral galaxies, and a gradual decrease in SFR as the morphologies advanced along the Hubble Sequence. Also, low-density environments of galaxies in the cluster have high SFRs However, field galaxies still had the highest SFRs of all due to their being in an environment of lowest density, and therefore lack of ram-pressure stripping and galaxy harassment. Finally, when correlating the SFRs of mid-range clusters to those of high and low redshift clusters, it was found that there is a large jump in SFR of mid redshift clusters.

.:Acknowledgements:.

Special thanks go to Dr. Gregory Rudnick, Dr. Vandana Desai, Dr. Rose Finn, John Blackwell, and all else who participated in the Spitzer Teachers program who helped me through tough situations with their expertise.

Thanks to the astronomers at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, WV for letting me present my project to them, especially to Dr. D.J. Pisano and Dr. Ron Maddalena for their critiques.

More thanks still to Julie Krugler, who inspired me to go into research my freshman year in high school, and who helped me countless times throughout my years of research.

Most thanks go to my instructor Ardis Herrold, who stimulated my interest in science and astronomy throughout my entire high school career, and who selflessly poured hours of her life into helping me succeed. You rock!