A Partnership in Observational and Computational Astronomy

南卡罗来纳州立大学（SCSU）的Donald Walter博士、Jennifer Cash女士和Daniel Smith博士将与Steven Howell博士、美国国家光学天文台（NOAO）的科学家、Mark Leising博士和克莱姆森大学（CU）的科学家合作，建立一个被称为POCA（观测与计算天文学合作伙伴关系）的伙伴关系。通过一个多方面的项目，他们计划利用合作伙伴关系来填补攻读科学，特别是天文学高级学位的非裔美国学生的管道。档案数据将用于将金牛座RV恒星的周期与几个物理参数联系起来，这些参数有助于将这些天体塑造成本星系群中有用的距离指示器。该伙伴关系还将参与研究伽马射线暴（GRB）余辉和研究原始锂丰度的全球网络。此外，他们将使用窄带h - α光度法在银河晕中寻找短周期、潮汐锁定的双星。最后，小组中的一些人将使用甚大阵列和格林班克望远镜的数据来研究磁场在恒星形成中的作用。SCSU是一所历史悠久的黑人学院/大学，96%的学生是非裔美国人。南加州州立大学的本科生和科罗拉多大学的研究生将参与所有拟议的研究。学生研究的机会将全年存在，研究生将被鼓励成为本科生的导师。该计划还旨在通过指导SCSU学生和教师来提高大学的研究基础。该项目还将通过以探究为基础的天文学实验室向非科学专业的学生开放，并将利用外展项目与公众和K-12社区分享科学。

Dr. Donald Walter, Ms. Jennifer Cash, and Dr. Daniel Smith at South Carolina State University (SCSU) will partner with Dr. Steven Howell and scientists at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) as well as Dr. Mark Leising and scientists at Clemson University (CU) in a partnership to be known as POCA (A Partnership in Observational and Computational Astronomy). Through a multi-faceted program they plan to use the partnership as a means to fill the pipeline of African-American students pursuing advanced degrees in science, and particularly, astronomy.Archival data will be used to relate the periods of RV Tauri stars to several physical parameters, which help shape these objects into useful distance indicators in the Local Group. The partnership will also participate in a world-wide network studying gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow and a study of primordial lithium abundances. Additionally, they will use narrow-band H-alpha photometry to search for short-period, tidally locked binaries in the Galactic Halo. Finally, some of the group will use data from the Very Large Array and the Green Bank Telescope to investigate the role of magnetic fields in star formation. SCSU is a Historically Black College/University with 96% of the student population being African-American. Undergrads at SCSU and grad students from CU will take part in all of the proposed research. The opportunities for student research will exist year-round, and graduate students will be encouraged to become mentors to undergraduates. The program is also intended to boost the research foundation at the university by mentoring not only SCSU students but also faculty members. The program will also reach non-science majors through inquiry-based astronomy labs, and outreach programs will be used to share the science with the public and K-12 community.