A Stellar Student Experience in the Lone Star State

该奖项全部由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。德克萨斯大学格兰德谷分校（UTRGV）与德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校麦克唐纳天文台之间的新合作伙伴关系将建立基础。该项目将为西班牙裔服务机构（UTRGV）的学生提供在世界级天文台进行研究的机会。麦克唐纳天文台拥有8台专业望远镜，其中包括北美最大的光学望远镜——11米霍比-埃伯利望远镜（HET）。天文台位于西德克萨斯州的戴维斯山脉，这里的夜空是美国48个州中最黑暗的。UTRGV学生将在麦克唐纳天文台使用最先进的天文仪器进行光学光度学和光谱学培训。利用麦克唐纳望远镜为几个选定的附近星系拍摄成像数据，学生们将进行系统的研究，以确定附近星系的新星率，这一比率目前受到的限制很少。新星是特别明亮的天文瞬变事件，附近星系的新星率提供了对恒星演化的洞察，特别是恒星群合成模型。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). The foundations of a new partnership between the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) and the McDonald Observatory of the University of Texas at Austin will be established. This program will provide students from a Hispanic-Serving Institution (UTRGV) the opportunity to carry out research at a world-class astronomical observatory. The McDonald Observatory is home to eight professional telescopes including the 11-m Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET), the largest optical telescope in North America. The Observatory is located in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, which offer some of the darkest night skies in the 48 contiguous states.UTRGV students will be trained in optical photometry and spectroscopy with state-of-the-art astronomical instrumentation at McDonald Observatory. Using the McDonald telescopes to take imaging data for a few selected nearby galaxies, students will make a systematic study to determine the nova rate of nearby galaxies, a rate which is currently poorly constrained. Novae are particularly luminous astronomical transient events and nova rates of nearby galaxies give an insight on stellar evolution and in particular stellar population synthesis models.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.