Nantucket Maria Mitchell Assoc

REU SITE: RESEARCH EXPERIENCES IN ASTRONOMY FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT THE MARIA MITCHELL OBSERVATORY

REU SITE: RESEARCH EXPERIENCES IN ASTRONOMY AT THE MARIA MITCHELL OBSERVATORY

REU SITE: RESEARCH EXPERIENCES IN ASTRONOMY FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT THE MARIA MITCHELL OBSERVATORY

REU SITE: RESEARCH EXPERIENCES IN ASTRONOMY FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT THE MARIA MITCHELL OBSERVATORY -THIS AWARD IS FOR RENEWED FUNDING OF THE MARIA MITCHELL OBSERVATORY (MMO) RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR UNDERGRADUATES (REU) SITE IN NANTUCKET, MASSACHUSETTS. THE REU PROGRAM WILL BE OFFERED ANNUALLY TO SIX QUALIFIED APPLICANTS, WHO WILL PERFORM STATE-OF-THE-ART DATA ANALYSIS USING A WIDE VARIETY OF SPACE- AND GROUND-BASED ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS. THE STUDENT PROJECTS INCLUDE THE GENERAL AREAS OF: FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF STARS, GROUPS AND CLUSTERS OF GALAXIES, LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE, COSMOLOGY, AND STAR CLUSTERS. THE MMO REU PROGRAM WILL HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON THE SKILLS AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENT PARTICIPANTS BY ENHANCING THEIR CAPABILITY TO DO RESEARCH, TO PRESENT THEIR RESULTS AT SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS AND IN PUBLIC SETTINGS, TO WRITE SCIENTIFIC PAPERS, AND TO WRITE OBSERVING PROPOSALS TO USE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL TELESCOPE FACILITIES. HUNDREDS OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THE REU PROGRAM TO DATE, THE GREAT MAJORITY OF THEM WOMEN, AND MANY HAVE GONE ON TO SUCCESSFUL CAREERS AS ASTRONOMERS AT LEADING UNIVERSITIES, OBSERVATORIES, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS AROUND THE WORLD. INDEED, ROUGHLY ONE OF EVERY 20 AMERICAN WOMEN WITH A PHD IN ASTRONOMY TODAY ACQUIRED FORMATIVE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE AT THE MMO. THIS AWARD WILL THEREFORE CONTRIBUTE TO DEVELOPING A TALENTED STEM WORKFORCE IN THE UNITED STATES. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

REU SITE: RESEARCH EXPERIENCES IN ASTRONOMY FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT THE MARIA MITCHELL OBSERVATORY -THIS AWARD IS FUNDED IN WHOLE OR IN PART UNDER THE AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT OF 2021 (PUBLIC LAW 117-2). THIS AWARD IS FOR RENEWED FUNDING OF THE MARIA MITCHELL OBSERVATORY (MMO) RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR UNDERGRADUATES (REU) SITE IN NANTUCKET, MASSACHUSETTS. THE REU PROGRAM WILL BE OFFERED ANNUALLY TO SIX QUALIFIED APPLICANTS, WHO WILL PERFORM STATE-OF-THE-ART DATA ANALYSIS USING A WIDE VARIETY OF SPACE- AND GROUND-BASED ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS. THE STUDENT PROJECTS INCLUDE THE GENERAL AREAS OF: FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF STARS, GROUPS AND CLUSTERS OF GALAXIES, LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE, COSMOLOGY, AND STAR CLUSTERS. THE MMO REU PROGRAM WILL HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON THE SKILLS AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENT PARTICIPANTS BY ENHANCING THEIR CAPABILITY TO DO RESEARCH, TO PRESENT THEIR RESULTS AT SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS AND IN PUBLIC SETTINGS, TO WRITE SCIENTIFIC PAPERS, AND TO WRITE OBSERVING PROPOSALS TO USE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL TELESCOPE FACILITIES. HUNDREDS OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THE REU PROGRAM TO DATE, THE GREAT MAJORITY OF THEM WOMEN, AND MANY HAVE GONE ON TO SUCCESSFUL CAREERS AS ASTRONOMERS AT LEADING UNIVERSITIES, OBSERVATORIES, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS AROUND THE WORLD. INDEED, ROUGHLY ONE OF EVERY 20 AMERICAN WOMEN WITH A PHD IN ASTRONOMY TODAY ACQUIRED FORMATIVE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE AT THE MMO. THIS AWARD WILL THEREFORE CONTRIBUTE TO DEVELOPING A TALENTED STEM WORKFORCE IN THE UNITED STATES. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: DISENTANGLING THE COSMIC WEB WITH FAST RADIO BURSTS

ASTRONOMY RESEARCH FOR UNDERGRADUATES AT THE MARIA MITCHELL OBSERVATORY (REU SITE)

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: A PANCHROMATIC VIEW OF NORMAL GALAXIES IN THE EARLY UNIVERSE

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE DEFINITIVE FOLLOW-UP CAMPAIGN FOR FAST RADIO BURSTS -FAST RADIO BURSTS (FRBS) ARE TRANSIENT PULSES OF RADIO EMISSION LASTING ONLY MILLISECONDS. THEY ARE KNOWN TO BE COMING FROM GALAXIES OUTSIDE OUR OWN AND ARE NOW A HIGHLY INTENSE AREA OF ASTROPHYSICAL PURSUIT, WITH OVER A THOUSAND FRBS DETECTED TO DATE. A RESEARCH TEAM BETWEEN THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY AND THE MARIA MITCHELL OBSERVATORY (MMO) FORMS THE CORE OF THE FAST AND FORTUNATE FOR FRB FOLLOW-UP (F4) TEAM, WHICH HAS BEEN FUNDED BY THE NSF SINCE 2019 TO OBSERVE FRBS AND ASSOCIATE THEM WITH THEIR HOST GALAXIES. THIS HAS ENABLED THE TEAM TO START TO USE FRB SIGNALS TO PROBE THE UNIVERSE AND TO MAKE A NEW CENSUS OF THE BARYONS (SUBATOMIC PARTICLES, MOSTLY PROTONS AND NEUTRONS) IN A HIGHLY DIFFUSE STATE OUTSIDE OF GALAXIES THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE. THIS CURRENT NSF AWARD EXTENDS THIS WORK TO ALLOW F4 TO INCREASE ITS OBSERVATIONAL IMPACT BY AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE THROUGH FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS OF TWO NEW SURVEYS OF PRECISELY LOCALIZED FRBS, ALLOWING THEM TO STUDY COSMOLOGY, BARYON DISTRIBUTION AND IDENTIFY FRB PROGENITORS. THIS AWARD WILL ALSO SUPPORT STUDENTS IN A POSTBACCALAUREATE 'BRIDGE' PROGRAM HOSTED AT THE MMO FOR ATTRACTING AND RETAINING TALENTED AND TRADITIONALLY UNDERREPRESENTED STUDENTS, WITH A LONG-TERM GOAL OF INCREASING THEIR PARTICIPATION AND LEADERSHIP IN STEM FIELDS. ALL OF THE INVESTIGATORS WILL ENGAGE IN THE MANY OUTREACH ACTIVITIES OF THE MMO. DURING THE PERIOD OF THIS GRANT, THE F4 TEAM WILL ACQUIRE, ANALYZE, AND DISSEMINATE DEEP, MULTI-BAND IMAGING AND SPECTROSCOPY ON THE HOST GALAXIES OF HUNDREDS OF FRBS ACROSS THE SKY. FOR MANY TENS OF FRB FIELDS, THEY WILL OBTAIN IMAGING AND MULTI-OBJECT SPECTROSCOPY TO IDENTIFY INTERVENING GALACTIC HALOS AND MAP THE FOREGROUND LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURE. THESE DATA AND DERIVED QUANTITIES (E.G. REDSHIFTS (Z) AND STELLAR MASSES), TOGETHER WITH MEASUREMENTS OF THE FRBS (E.G. DISPERSION MEASURE (DM) AND ROTATION MEASURE (RM)) WILL ENABLE THREE MAJOR SCIENTIFIC THRUSTS: (1) COSMOLOGY: THE FIRST STATISTICALLY ROBUST DETERMINATION OF THE MACQUART RELATION (DM VS. Z), LEADING TO A NEW AND COMPLEMENTARY ESTIMATE OF THE HUBBLE PARAMETER; (2) GALAXY FORMATION: INFERRING THE RADIAL DISTRIBUTION OF BARYONS IN GALACTIC HALOS AND CONSTRAINING THE MAGNETIC FIELDS AND GAS DENSITY OF THE CIRCUMGALACTIC MEDIUM; AND (3) FRB PROGENITORS: TESTING THE MANY MODELS INVOKED TO PRODUCE FRBS AND USING RAPID FOLLOW-UP IMAGING AT RADIO, OPTICAL AND X-RAY WAVELENGTHS TO RESOLVE FRB EMISSION MECHANISMS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

THE MARIA MITCHELL WOMEN IN SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM: CELEBRATING THE 200TH BIRTHDAY OF AMERICA'S FIRST WOMAN ASTRONOMER

ORGANIZATIONAL NOMINATION: UNDERGRADUATE ASTRONOMY RESEARCH MENTORING AT THE MARIA MITCHELL ASSOCIATION