The NRAO Summer Research Experience in Astronomy for Undergraduates [REU] and Teachers [RET] program provides stimulating internships to students interested in research in astronomy and exposure for K-12 teachers to the process of scientific investigation. During their appointments, the participants will work with NRAO scientific staff advisers on a project in the advisor's area of expertise: astronomy and astrophysics, research engineering, or computer science. Students and teachers alike will also take part in a summer lecture series introducing them to the fundamentals of astronomy and to current topics in astronomical research. Teachers may additionally take part in workshops, and participate in educational sessions to develop classroom activities that make use of their research experience at the NRAO. All REU and RET activities are intellectually focused on providing the environment and infrastructure within which students and teachers can learn and master the tools of basic research.
The NRAO REU/RET project will provide research experiences to fifteen undergraduate students and four K-12 teachers per year. This, combined with the additional summer interns funded from NRAO operational funds, will bring the total number of summer student interns to 25 to 30 per year. Over the 53 years during which NRAO has supported a summer internship program, the majority of the student participants ultimately choose to pursue careers in science and engineering. Some students forge continuing collaborations with NRAO scientists, forming links between NRAO and their home institutions. Additionally, some students participate in important public outreach activities. Teachers take part in workshops and sessions on curriculum development. They are also directly exposed to research which enhances their teaching, fosters enthusiasm for science in their students, and influences some of their students to pursue scientific careers.
The NRAO Summer Student Program, which celebrated its 55th anniversary in 2014, is a strong and valuable part of the NRAO tradition of community service through the education of students in the key STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines. From 1999 through 2013 the program was expanded by the addition of teacher participants, funded through a Research Experience for Teachers (RET) supplement to the REU grant. The REU program structure is identical at each of the NRAO sites, the elements of which are applied based on the local science focus. NRAO Socorro, Green Bank, and Charlottesville are the headquarters for the operations of the Very Large Array (VLA) and Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), Green Bank Telescope (GBT), and Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), respectively. Students at NRAO Socorro, for example, often receive a research experience that emphasizes science accomplished using the VLA and VLBA. During their appointments, the students work with NRAO scientific staff advisers on a project in the advisor’s area of expertise: astronomy and astrophysics, research engineering, or computer science. In addition to their assigned research project all students participate in a hands-on observing experience using the NRAO GBT, VLA, and/or VLBA. To make this observing experience as close to realtiy as possible, students are guided through the process of developing an experiment based on a science question to be addressed, designing the observation setup required to effect this experiment, followed by reduction and analysis of the measurements acquired. Students also take part in a summer lecture series introducing them to the fundamentals of astronomy and to current topics in astronomical research. Career guidance and counseling is also provided through individual and group discussions on topics which include opportunities for advanced degree studies (MA and PhD), careers in teaching, and education and public outreach. Participants also receive instruction and experience with communicating their scientific research through oral and written presentation of their research project results. All REU activities are intellectually focused on providing the environment and infrastructure within which students can learn and master the tools of basic research. Many students that participate in the NRAO Summer Student Program forge continuing collaborations with NRAO scientists, forming links between NRAO and their home institutions. Students also participate in important public outreach activities, giving them experience with communicating science to the general public. The locations of the NRAO facilities provide unique opportunities to interact with students and educators in under-served communities such as Green Bank, WV, and Socorro, NM, and to interact with local educational institutions. Our explicit efforts to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in our program have resulted in significant improvements in both applications and participation. To attract more applicants from minority serving institutions and academic institutions, including two-year colleges, where research opportunities in STEM are limited, we have focussed our advertising efforts on these institutions. These efforts have included developing contacts, both through individual contact and direct mailing of our REU program information, with faculty at minority serving and STEM research limited institutions to encourage students at these institutions to apply to our program. A total of 109 students participated in the 2011-2014 NRAO Summer Student program, including 75 undergraduate students supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program, 17 other undergraduates supported by the NRAO Undergraduate Summer Student program, and 17 graduate students supported by the NRAO Graduate Summer Student program. The 2014 program marked the fifty-fifth year of the NRAO Summer Research Program, which has graduated more than one thousand students in its tenure. Research initiated in previous years by some students and their mentors continues, giving the program a continuing impact even for students who have departed. There were a total of 714 applicants to the 2011-2014 NRAO summer student program, of whom 272 (38%) were women and 90 (13%) were under-represented minorities. The 109 REU positions were filled by 62 women (57%), 47 men (43%), and 22 (20%) under-represented minorities. Two teachers participated in the 2011-2014 NRAO Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program funded by the National Science Foundation. The 2011 program marked the fourteenth year of the NRAO RET program, which has now graduated 34 teachers. The RET program offered teachers both a research experience and, with its emphasis on carryover to the classroom, encouraged inquiry-based instruction. As is the case for the REU students, RET participants were encouraged to present the results from their research projects at the American Astronomical Meeting.
