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Adaptive Optics
Newsletter
Volume 2
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Education and Human Resource Activities There has been considerable restructuring of the CfAO's Education outreach programs in this past year. The changes have aligned the educational programs more closely with the Center's research activities and increased focus on the recruitment and retention of underrepresented sectors of the population in the disciplines of science and engineering. The activity focus is on students ranging from high school level to the graduate level. The programs offered in Year Two related directly to the stated objectives. These included the Stars, Sight and Science Summer Program, the ALU LIKE Traineeship program and the Annual Professional Development Conference.
The island of Hawaii is home to many of the world's largest observatories on Mauna Kea. Unfortunately these employ few Native Hawaiians in technical or professional roles as there is a lack of training facilities on the islands. In an effort to overcome this, the CfAO is cooperating with educational establishments in Hawaii to identify and develop new programs that will increase the participation of Native Hawaiians in CfAO related research and technology. As part of this effort the CfAO is collaborating with the ALU LIKE organization and with LLNL to provide traineeships on the mainland for native Hawaiian Community College and recent high school graduates. See Issue 1 of this newsletter for more details. Last year the CfAO sponsored the first of its annual Professional Development Conference series for graduate students and postdocs. This provided 25 CfAO graduate students and postdoctoral researchers an opportunity for experience in inquiry-based teaching, for developing interdisciplinary ties, and to establish contacts for future collaborations. The conference was held on the Big Island of Hawaii and attendees visited the Gemini and Keck observatories on Mauna Kea. Attendees spent an intensive two days in a workshop on inquiry-based learning developed and delivered by Doris Ash (Education Dept., UC Santa Cruz) and Barry Kluger-Bell (Exploratorium), and presented non-technical posters to local high school teachers. The subsequent evaluation of the conference conducted by Dr. Barbara Goza (Director, Research and Evaluation, Educational Partnership Center, UCSC) indicated that the initial participant responses were extremely positive. The second annual conference will be held in Maui, May 15-18, 2002. A Mini-Grant Project was launched Year 2, and gained momentum at the Kona Conference. Graduate students and postdoctoral researchers were invited to submit one-page proposals outlining a visit to a collaborating CfAO site. These visits are designed for students to gain experience in a discipline different to their own, for example astronomers visiting vision science sites, or projects in education. Mini-grants were awarded to UCSC graduate student Lynne Raschke to visit the University of Rochester and Peter Kurczynski, a postdoctoral researcher at Bell Labs. The Second Annual Summer School on Adaptive Optics held in July 2001 provided all professionals interested in adaptive optics a six-day workshop aimed at both astronomy and vision science researchers. Of the approximate 96 people that attended the workshop, eighty percent were CfAO graduate students and post docs. The major focus of the workshop was on MEMS technology and image processing techniques. Computer lab sessions were held to introduce part-icipants to the programs used for image enhance-ment.
In Year Three, EHR will further refine educational projects. The activities will focus on inquiry-based teaching, clustered mentoring, and the development of instructional materials that bring CfAO research into the classroom and public arena. Education and Human Resources Notices CfAO Undergraduate Internships CfAO to host 2nd Annual NSF Research Center Education
Workshop Mini-Grants Professional Development Conference 2002 Summer School for AO - Aug 4-9 2002 Contact Information: |
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The
Center's "Stars, Sight and Science" summer program for talented
high school students was offered in collaboration with the University of California
Santa Cruz's California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS)
program. The four-week summer immersion experience included three coordinated
courses on vision science, astronomy and science communication developed by the
CfAO. High school students were recruited by the CfAO from three area high schools
— Watsonville, Overfelt and North Salinas high schools — all of which
have large underrepresented student populations. Cynthia Mendoza, from Watsonville
High School, was awarded a scholarship of $1000 to attend any university; $2000
to attend an institution within the University of California system and $4000
if she attends the University of California Santa Cruz. The scholarship was for
academic achievement, attitude and overall excellence during the summer session.
CfAO faculty, graduate students, research scientists, and postdocs played a pivotal
role as instructors and mentors to the high school students and their enthusiastic
participation contributed much to the success of the program. Watsonville High
science teacher Burnne Yew was part of the instructional team, assisting the CfAO
instructors in delivering material that was engaging and appropriate for high
school students.
The
CfAO was represented and participated extensively in the SACNAS (Society for Advancement
of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science) con-ference in 2001. This conference
combines science, professional development and culture. It attracts approx-imately
2000 participants each year, most of whom are underrepresented undergraduates.
CfAO Associate Director, Claire Max chaired a scientific symposium on adaptive
optics. Panel members included Austin Roorda (University of Houston), and Gabriella
Canalizo (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory). The CfAO sponsored a booth
to provide an extended opportunity for students to learn about the CfAO. Fernando
Romero (University of Houston), Shuleen Chau-Martin (UC Berkeley), and Lisa Hunter
(UC Santa Cruz) joined the CfAO speakers at the booth and other conference activities.
Three CfAO undergraduate interns were awarded full travel awards and were selected
to present posters. They included Carmen Kunz and Tammi Floyd, who last summer
completed projects at UCO Lick Observatory Shops, at UC Santa Cruz.