ann24003 — Announcement

Thirty New NOIRLab and Rubin Ambassadors Announced

Talented individuals from around the globe share their interest in NOIRLab

13 February 2024

The NOIRLab Ambassador Program, launched in May 2023, aims to increase public engagement with NOIRLab and its Programs, including Vera C. Rubin Observatory Construction, by working together with motivated and enthusiastic volunteers to share our mission and science with new audiences. A major milestone for the program has been achieved with the selection of the first thirty ambassadors!

The new ambassadors represent a diverse, personable, creative, and enthusiastic group of individuals with a range of skills who have an interest in promoting NOIRLab’s scientific discoveries, education initiatives, and activities to the public. Over the next 12 months they will contribute to NOIRLab and Rubin in a variety of ways including audiovisual (images and video), music, art (including crafts), education, social media and advocacy for dark skies.

In all, seven audiovisual ambassadors, ten social media ambassadors, two music ambassadors, 13 education ambassadors, one dark skies ambassador and two art ambassadors were selected. Several ambassadors will work in multiple areas.

Ambassadors receive a variety of benefits, including social media training, publication of content on NOIRLab’s website and social media channels, meetups, a welcome kit and more.

Explore this webpage to learn more about the program and meet our talented, diverse ambassadors.

More information

NSF’s NOIRLab (National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory), the US center for ground-based optical-infrared astronomy, operates the International Gemini Observatory (a facility of NSF, NRC–Canada, ANID–Chile, MCTIC–Brazil, MINCyT–Argentina, and KASI–Republic of Korea), Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC), and Vera C. Rubin Observatory (operated in cooperation with the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory). It is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with NSF and is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona. The astronomical community is honored to have the opportunity to conduct astronomical research on Iolkam Du’ag (Kitt Peak) in Arizona, on Maunakea in Hawai‘i, and on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón in Chile. We recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that these sites have to the Tohono O’odham Nation, to the Native Hawaiian community, and to the local communities in Chile, respectively.