Through participation in the active research environment of a professional scientist rather than through student exercises, students experience the full breadth of scientific research from defining the question to be answered or explored, through data-taking and data interpretation steps, to the preparation of a published paper or public presentation of their work. For more than 35-years, the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center has sponsored a summer student research program at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Under this award, this work will continue as students work as professional research collaborators with members of the Observatory scientific and technical staff on the on-going research programs of the mentoring staff members for ten-week during the summer. The intellectual goals are, (1) To enable students to explore a career as a research scientist through participation in frontier scientific research projects at a national research facility; (2) To educate students in the multi-disciplinary scientific fields that are actively carried out at the Arecibo Observatory, including radio astronomy, radar astronomy and the atmospheric and space sciences; (3) To expose students to hands-on experience with state-of-the-art technology; and (4) To give students a real-world experience that helps them to evaluate career options and in preparing them for graduate studies. Much of the research in which the students participate leads to publications in scholarly journals or to presentations that the student will make to professional organizations such as a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
In addition, this Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site has a goal to achieve a multi-cultural, gender-balanced, summer student body selected from both Puerto Rican colleges and universities, and from mainland U.S. schools. During the course of the summer, an introduction to the people and culture of Puerto Rico is presented through a program of invited speakers, and by planned group excursions to the many natural and historical attractions on the island.
This site is co-funded by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF Division of Astronomical Sciences and the NSF Division of Atmospheric Sciences under the NSF REU program.
" Under Award 0852113 Introduction The National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) conducted a summer student program at the Arecibo Observatory (AO) in Arecibo, Puerto Rico (Fig. 1) from 1972 to 2011 during the period the Center was managed by Cornell University. Initially funded through the NAIC’s operating budget from the National Science Foundation (NSF), in 1987 the funding for most participating students shifted to the NSF’s Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. This program provided students who had an interest in astronomy, atmospheric sciences and related engineering with the opportunity to sample the work-life of research scientists during a ten-week period. Students worked on research questions/projects in astronomy, atmospheric sciences, engineering or computing suggested by their mentors on the AO scientific or engineering staff. Each student gained direct experience of scientific research and its methods through this process, and experience giving oral presentations via a formal talk towards the end of the summer. The students were also expected to prepare a poster on their work and, if possible, present it at a professional conference in their chosen fields. Since 1972, a total of 372 students, 80% of them undergraduates, plus 11 Research Experience for Teachers (RET) participants from Puerto Rico, have taken part in the summer student program at AO. Included in the total were 165 female students and 91 minority participants. A large proportion of these students went on to very successful careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields with many of them becoming faculty members at US (including Puerto Rico) universities and colleges. The Past Three Years A total of 23 summer students and 2 teachers were supported at the Arecibo Observatory using REU funds in the three years of the grant: 9 students and 1 teacher in 2009, Fig. 2; 7 students and 1 teacher in 2010, Fig. 3; 7 students in 2011, Fig. 4. The teacher selected in 2011 withdrew at the last moment and it was not possible to find a suitable replacement on very short notice. In addition to the students and teachers supported under the REU program, there were 6 additional students in the 2009 program, 4 in 2010 and 7 in 2011 primarily supported under the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program through the University of Puerto Rico and other NAIC funds. For each of the three summer programs supported under the grant, a coordinator was appointed to organize the program, provide general guidance to, and oversight of, the students, organize the introductory lectures given by the local scientific and engineering staff and make arrangements for shopping trips to Arecibo and weekend trips to familiarize the students with Puerto Rico and the nearby islands. Typically about 120 applications for the REU summer program were received necessitating a difficult selection process. Upon arrival at the Observatory each student was assigned a (shared) room in the Observatory’s Visiting Scientist Quarters. Once all, or most, of the students had arrived by late May or early June, they attended a ‘Safety and Conduct’ seminar. Around the same time there was a tour conducted of the Observatory and telescope and a welcome BBQ with all the Observatory staff. All of the students who participated in the AO summer programs were given a broad introduction to the research and engineering programs at the Observatory via a series of lectures given by the resident observatory staff plus, as opportunity arose, visiting scientists. Each student was assigned a mentor from the Observatory’s staff and a project for the summer agreed upon. This could include participation in an observing program on the telescope, analysis of data, design of a receiver system or development of computer algorithms. In addition to the project carried out with their mentor, the students participated in several short joint observing programs on the telescope using Director’s discretionary time. These projects gave them hands-on experience with using a large telescope. As mentioned above, at the end of the summer each student made a presentation about their work and were encouraged to attend a relevant scientific conference and give a poster presentation. Conference options included the following January meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the October meeting of the Division of Planetary Sciences of the AAS, the Coupling, Energetics and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions (CEDAR) meeting in June or, occasionally, the American Geophysical Union meeting in December. The costs of attending a meeting were included in NAIC’s REU budget. An important aspect of the summer program was the introduction of students from the US mainland to Puerto Rico and the interaction of the students from Puerto Rico and the mainland. Almost every weekend was occupied with visits to local areas of interest, tours of San Juan and trips to local islands.
