The Incoherent Scatter Radar Summer School

非相干散射雷达(ISR)暑期学校通过培训一支能够收集和使用ISR数据的劳动力来造福社会，这项技能目前只有少数(如果有的话)高等教育机构教授。这种对新用户群体的培训增加了NSF对ISR设施的投资的研究产出，并有助于从根本上了解地球大气层中的空间天气。该学院还为学生提供雷达理论的背景知识，学习控制和操作大型雷达，并了解分析雷达数据所需的数据处理。所有这些都可以直接转移到其他雷达应用中，如卫星跟踪、天气雷达和卫星通信。在学校，设施PI指导学生，并建立延伸到学校以外的专业关系。核心教职员工中有两名是女性，这为学生提供了重要的榜样。该学院经常与EISCAT ISR暑期学校相结合，促进国际关系和交流。认识到非相干散射是一种非常强大的技术，可以精确测量从低于100公里到超过600公里的多个高层大气参数，美国国家科学基金会已经在几个ISR设施上投入了大量资金。然而，由于劳动力老龄化和美国教育课程从ISR理论和工程转向，下一代训练有素的工程师现在正在欧洲和亚洲培养，那里的ISR投资仍在继续。该项目旨在满足美国对ISR用户和工人的培训需求，方法是每年举办一次ISR暑期班，将讲座和小组工作结合起来。这所学校的目的是教学生如何提出和进行ISR实验，以及如何分析和报告结果。正如过去十年暑期学校的学生所证明的那样，这些学生经常会将ISR数据纳入未来的研究，从而提高对高层大气的整体知识。一些学生将更深入地研究这一主题，并将成为该领域的未来研究人员和领导者。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR) Summer School benefits society by training a workforce that will be able to collect and use ISR data, a skill currently taught at few, if any, institutions of high education. This training of a new user community increases the research output from NSF's investment in ISR facilities and contributes to the fundamental understanding of space weather in Earth’s atmosphere. this school also provides students with a background in radar theory, in learning to control and operate large radars, and an understanding of the data processing required to analyze radar data. All of this is directly transferable to other radar applications such as satellite tracking, weather radar, and satellite communications. In the school, facility PIs mentor students and establish professional relationships that extend beyond the school. Two of the core lecturing staff are female which provides important role models for students. The school often combines with the EISCAT ISR Summer School, fostering international relationships and communications. Recognizing that incoherent scatter is a very powerful technique to make precise measurements of multiple upper atmospheric parameters extending from below 100 km to above 600 km, the NSF has heavily invested in several ISR facilities. However, due to an aging workforce and a shift in the U.S. educational curriculum away from ISR theory and engineering, the next generation of trained engineers is now being produced in Europe and Asia where ISR investments continue. This project addresses the need for training ISR users and workers in the US by conducting a yearly ISR summer school with a combination of lectures and group work. The purpose of this school is to teach students how to propose and conduct an ISR experiment, and how to analyze and report the results. As has been evidenced by students from the prior decade of summer schools, these students will often incorporate ISR data into future research and thus advance overall knowledge of the upper atmosphere. Some students will delve much deeper into the topic and will become the future researchers and leaders of the field.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.