The Undergraduate ALFALFA Team

在这项合作中，Rebecca Koopmann博士(联合学院)、Sarah Higdon博士(佐治亚南方大学)、Thomas Balonek博士(高露洁大学)及其联合体团队成员将开展一系列活动，旨在让本科生参与到现实世界的尖端研究项目中来，以收集、分析以及在某些情况下发布来自紫花苜蓿(阿雷西博遗产快速阿尔法调查)的数据，其中ALFA是阿雷西博L波段馈电阵列项目的首字母缩写。利用阿雷西博射电望远镜上的七光束阿尔法接收器，对银河系外星系中的中性氢进行了大规模的紫花苜蓿调查。预计在接下来的五年里，紫花苜蓿将探测到超过20,000个星系，从而产生广泛的科学应用。该计划包括四个部分：1)将在阿雷西博举办一年一度的本科生紫花苜蓿团队研讨会，向学生介绍阿尔法项目，并向他们介绍科学计划以及观测和数据分析技术；2)学生将在教师导师的帮助下，开发自己的研究项目，并使用世界上最大的S望远镜进行自己的观测；3)将为较小的学校提供用于数据分析的计算机基础设施；以及4)将以竞争的方式向学生提供暑期研究职位，以帮助他们走上科学的轨道。该项目将对本科生紫花苜蓿团队联盟所属的14所大学产生广泛影响。该计划将在全国各地不同的公立和私立大学环境中促进本科生和研究生的发现和学习。所有小组成员都将参加年度讲习班，并将被鼓励在科学会议上介绍他们的成果。研究和教育的基础设施将通过学生和教职员工之间的合作以及天文台来促进，这将刺激较小学院的本科生研究。参与机构与阿雷西博安赫尔·拉莫斯游客中心主任合作编写的本科生和K-12应用课程和宣传材料将公开提供。女性在参与该项目的教职员工中占很大比例。

In this collaborative effort, Drs. Rebecca Koopmann (Union College), Sarah Higdon (Georgia Southern University), Thomas Balonek (Colgate University), and members of their consortium team will carry out an array of activities directed toward involving undergraduate students in real-world, cutting-edge research projects to collect, analyze, and, in some cases, publish data from the ALFALFA (The Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA Survey, where ALFA is an acronym for the Arecibo L-band Feed Array project. ALFALFA is large survey for neutral hydrogen in galaxies external to the Milky Way being carried out using the seven-beam ALFA receiver on the Arecibo Observatory radio telescope. ALFALFA is expected to detect over 20,000 galaxies over the next five years, resulting in a wide range of scientific applications. The program has four components: 1) An annual undergraduate ALFALFA team workshop will be held at Arecibo that will introduce students to the ALFA project and communicate science programs and observing and data analysis techniques; 2) Students, with the help of faculty mentors, will develop their own research programs and do their own observing using Arecibo, the world''s largest telescope; 3) Computer infrastructure for data analysis will be provided to smaller schools; and 4) Summer research positions will be provided to students on a competitive basis to help keep them on a science track. The program will have wide impact at 14 universities belonging to the Undergraduate ALFALFA Team consortium. The program will advance discovery and promote learning among undergraduate and graduate students in a diverse array of university settings, both public and private, across the country. All team members will participate in the annual workshops and will be encouraged to present their results at scientific meetings. Infrastructure for research and education will be promoted via the collaboration between students and faculty and the observatory, which will stimulate undergraduate research at the smaller colleges. Curricular and outreach material for both undergraduate and K-12 application, developed at the participating institutions and in collaboration with the Director of the Angel Ramos Visitor Center at Arecibo, will be made publicly available. Women comprise a large fraction of the faculty involved in the program.