A Flagstaff, Arizona, partnership in astronomy and astrophysics research and education to increase participation by underrepresented minority students

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This award is funded in whole under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Flagstaff, Arizona, is the world’s first International Dark Sky City, and is home to both Northern Arizona University (NAU), a four-year high-research state (public) university, and Coconino Community College (CCC), an adjacent public two-year community college, which is a majority minority school. The CCC2NAU partnership was founded in 2008 between NAU and CCC, and provides an affordable and innovative way for students to complete a bachelor degree by attending CCC for their first two years (at the lower community college tuition rate) and NAU for their last two years. The new partnership funded in this project will create a pathway to include CCC students in the astronomy-related research labs at NAU, which has a very active astronomy research portfolio that spans a wide range of topics. The key to the project is that research is the tool with which under-represented minority (URM) students are recruited and retained in astronomy, and more broadly, in STEM fields.The intellectual merit of this proposal is that 10–20 research projects, in a range of astronomy and astronomy-related fields, will be advanced. These will result in conference presentations, publications, and data products that will be impactful in their fields. There are two clear broader impacts of this proposed work: individual and societal. The individual impact is that this program will provide paid internships for twenty students across two years. The societal impact of this project is to increase the participation of URM students in astronomy and, more broadly, STEM fields. The effectiveness of this project will be evaluated by professional experts. The expected outcomes of this project are: (1) astronomy research on a range of topics will be carried out by student participants in this program, with scientifically significant outcomes; (2) participants will gain technical skills and research experience; and (3) the program will increase the retention of URM students in astronomy and, more broadly, STEM fields.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.