Transcript Activities in Green Bank

The Broader Impact of NRAO
Goal: To increase appreciation for Radio
Astronomy, and the NRAO locally, regionally,
nationally.
•Scientific literacy
•Encourage STEM Careers
•Science is accessible, and fun
Students WV Governor's School
Public
WV EPSCoR (2005-present)
60 students/year
Field Trips, Institutes
free
3500 in 2008, 2400 used the 40 Foot
High School Mentorship
free
~40 high school students
REU
NSF
25 undergrads since 1991, many more!
PSC
NSF
90 students in summer, 1800 total impact
Tour Program
marketing funds WV Tourism
~48,000 in 2008
StarQuest Star Party
Fees
~150/year (2004-present)
Society of Amateur Radio Ast.
Space is Free
~60/year (1985-present)
produced by NRAO ( 2004-2007)
reaches 10,000 people, plus podcast
Quiet Skies
NASA IDEAS grant
600+ students per year
NRAO Ambassadors-IBT
SARA, NRAO (2006-present)
1400+/year
Cosmic Radio Show
Corp. of Public Broadcasting
? offered nationally, NRAO website
GBT control room webcasts
EG: Clay Center planetarium
400 kids/year
365 Days of Astronomy podcasts
NRAO plus guests
Outreach Mountain Radio Astronomy show
IYA
Around the World in 80 webcast
NEW
pending..
Radio Skynet
NSF (UNC led) MRI proposal
public use of 20 meter telescope
Teacher Programs
• Core experience: Scientific Research on the 40 Ft.
telescope.
• Team research/NRAO scientist mentors
• Astronomy content
• Research talks
• In-depth tours
• Classroom application
• Proven to change teacher practices in the classroom.
Student Programs
• Overnight (or longer) field trips
• Extended tours
• 2000 students have used the 40 Foot telescope over
the past 12 months.
• Grade School to Grad School
West Virginia Governor’s School
Goal: to encourage students’
interest in STEM careers
before they enter high school.
60 rising freshman/year.
Public
Programs
•Tour Program
•Star Quest
•SARA
Public Relations
… good to the last drop
Virginia…
… I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.
Brylcream…
…NRAO???
Quiet Skies
Quiet Skies Detector
Goal: to promote student awareness of radio astronomy and radio
frequency interference through an
inquiry-based research project.
Students will:
• Measure interference levels at
schools and in communities;
• Reduce and transmit data to an
NRAO data base;
• Debate how the spectrum
should be allocated.
North America at Night
NRAO Navigators
Goal: to train outreach volunteers to
spread the word about radio astronomy
and NRAO.
November 2008:
-- 44 Night Sky
Network clubs and
a record 102
participants, tuned
into a training
telecon.
Navigator David Fields with youth group in Tennessee
• Funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,
though local station. (~$10,000 plus in-kind)
• 26 3-minute shows
• Aired 2007/2008
• Also available at www.nrao.edu
• Accompanied by web content.
NEW!
• Pulsar Search Collaboratory
– Proposal to be Submitted to NSF ITEST
– To involve students in radio astronomy science and the search
for new pulsars.
– “Distributed computing”
– Ultimate goal to become a citizen science project
Partnership between WVU physics, computer
science, and education departments, WV EPSCoR,
WV Dept. of Ed. and NRAO.