This proposal will be awarded using funds made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
The mission of the California-Arizona Minority Partnership for Astronomy Research and Education (CAMPARE) program is to advance Astronomy research and education among Hispanic and other minority students by creating a partnership between California State Polytechnic University (CPP), a large, ethnically diverse, Hispanic-serving institution, located in eastern Los Angeles County, and the University of Arizona (UA) Department of Astronomy, located in Tucson, Arizona. This mission will be accomplished through a variety of activities including summer research experiences for CPP students working with UA faculty, access for CPP students and faculty to telescopes at UA's Steward Observatory, and collaborative education research with CPP and UA faculty on how "Astro 101" is taught. All of these activities are aimed toward creating a network of instructors, undergraduates, and K-12 students in order to increase the presence of Hispanic and other minority students in Astronomy graduate school, and to recruit and inspire local K-12 students in Southern California to attend college and major in Astronomy or other STEM disciplines.
The combination of an Hispanic-serving institution, such as CPP, located in a region of explosive growth in Hispanic population, and an Astronomy Department, such as UA, with a strong track record of involving undergraduates in research, and which also happens to be geographically close and in a heavily Hispanic state, will allow for the creation of a program that will reach one of the largest concentrations of diverse students in the country, and have a real impact on their futures. The CAMPARE program will stimulate Astronomy education and research at every level: among K-12 students, among undergraduates, and among the instructors who serve these populations, achieving benefits beyond the limits of academia. It is hoped that this program can become a model for other minority-serving California State University schools, and for Hispanic and minority-serving institutions nationwide.
