NOAO-Trained Teachers to Observe with Spitzer

10 January 2005

The National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) has teamed with the Spitzer Science Center (SSC) to offer a dozen graduates from NOAO’s advanced teacher professional development program a unique chance to make research-quality observations with NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.

Known as the “NASA Spitzer Space Telescope Observing Program for Students and Teachers,” the project was germinated in a series of informal discussions that began in earnest at the January 2004 American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting in Atlanta. Applications were solicited in September 2004, and 12 teachers from the NOAO Research Based Science Education (RBSE) and its successor, Teacher Leaders in Research Based Science Education (TLRBSE), were selected from 37 highly qualified applicants.

Just a few weeks after their selection, the teachers got started with a kick-off workshop in Tucson in mid-November 2004. The teachers are now in San Diego attending the 205th meeting of the AAS, where they are receiving training from the SSC Observer Support Team on telescope and instrument capabilities, and consulting with potential scientific collaborators from NOAO and SSC to refine their planned observations in the spring.

“The Spitzer outreach team was interested because they know that Spitzer observing opportunities are a valuable resource, and they wanted to make the most out of the director’s discretionary time reserved for educational outreach,” says Stephen Pompea, manager of science education and an astronomer at NOAO. “We saw a chance to offer another exciting and challenging research experience to our RBSE/TLBSE community, including the chance to work closely with some of the best infrared astronomers in the world.”

Key staff members involved with the NOAO side of the program include Pompea, Steven Croft, and Connie Walker from the NOAO educational outreach group; Don McCarthy of the University of Arizona; and, Steve Howell, John Feldmeier, Letizia Stanghellini, and Richard Shaw from the NOAO scientific staff, with more astronomers likely to be added. Doris Daou of the SSC outreach staff is managing the SSC side of the program, in coordination with SSC Director Thomas Soifer. SSC science staff will be involved as sponsors for each team of teachers.

“We wanted to bring the Spitzer Space Telescope mission to the classroom, and give this great opportunity to teachers and students from all over the country,” Soifer said. “This effort is another example of how NASA and its projects help prepare the next generation of American scientists, and space scientists in particular.”

Once the observations are taken during the next six months (over a total of three hours of director’s discretionary observing time), the teachers will visit the SSC in Pasadena, CA, to meet again with Spitzer scientists and start working on the data.

The RBSE/TLRBSE teachers selected for the Spitzer project are:

Teacher Name	School Name	Location
Jeff Adkins	Deer Valley High School	Antioch, CA
Howard Chun	Cranston High School	East Cranston, RI
Lauren Chapple	Traverse City East Junior High School	Traverse City, MI
Harlan Devore	Cape Fear High School	Fayetteville, NC
Anthony Maranto	Phillips Exeter Academy	Exeter , NH
Steve Rapp	Linwood Holton Governor’s School	Abingdon, VA
Theresa Roelofsen	Bassick High School	Bridgeport, CT
Babs Sepulveda	Lincoln High School	Stockton, CA
Linda Stefaniak	Allentown High School	Allentown, NJ
Timothy Spuck	Oil City Area Sr. High School	Oil City, PA
Beth Thomas	East Middle School	Great Falls, MT
Cynthia Weehler	Luther Burbank High School	San Antonio, TX

A poster paper on the Spitzer teacher-student observing program [Session 96.01] is being presented on Wednesday, January 12, at the AAS meeting by Daou, Pompea and Michelle Thaller, manager of the SSC outreach office, in the exhibit hall starting at 9:20 a.m. PST. The teachers are also available for interviews earlier in the week.

More information

NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center.

Contacts

Douglas Isbell
Public Information Officer National Optical Astronomy Observatory
Tel: 520/318-8230
Email: disbell@noao.edu

Whitney Clavin
JPL Media Relations Specialist
Cell: 818/648-9734
Email: Whitney.Clavin@jpl.nasa.gov