McDonald Observatory and the Hobby-Eberly Telescope as an REU Site

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Proposal ID: AST-0243745Institution: University of Texas at AustinPI: Shetrone, MatthewA Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site will be established at the University of Texas at Austin - McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains of far west Texas. Under the direction of Dr. Matthew Shetrone, the objective of the McDonald REU program will be to encourage student interest in observatory support, astronomical research and engineering. For ten weeks each summer, six students (four the first year) will be mentored by a senior astronomer or engineer (mechanical, optical or electrical). The cutting-edge research projects will use the McDonald Observatory's professional facilities, including the 9.2-m Hobby-Eberly Telescope, an innovative instrument and the third largest telescope in the world. Each REU participant will receive daily direction from their on-site mentor and be integrated into the Observatory support and research team. Each student will also be given an opportunity to participate in public education programs at the recently-dedicated McDonald Observatory Visitors' Center. At mid-summer, students will participate in an organized field trip to other nearby observatories in New Mexico. Throughout the summer, weekly seminars by visiting astronomers will give students exposure to a broad range of modern astrophysical research. Undergraduate students will be recruited from universities across the United States. An especially aggressive recruiting campaign will target minorities at universities in the southwestern and midwestern states. The McDonald REU program's goal will be to recruit equal numbers of students interested in engineering and astronomical research.