Collaborative Research: Accessing the dark Arizona skies for research and education, a NCAT-BU partnership

北卡罗来纳农业技术州立大学(NCAT)和波士顿大学(BU)之间将建立一种新的伙伴关系，NCAT是一所历史上活跃的黑人学院或大学(HBCU)，波士顿大学(BU)是一所拥有大型研究级望远镜的大学。这一伙伴关系有三个主要目标：通过提供研究级望远镜，加强国家天文学研究和教育；提高天文学在国家天文学研究中心以及该地区高中、学院和大学作为职业的知名度；增加攻读天文学和天体物理学研究生学位的小规模学生人数，包括在国家天文学研究中心和波士顿大学。该计划将为NCAT学生提供北卡罗来纳大学夏季本科生实习机会，旨在同时促进科学进步和职业培训，同时提高学生进入研究生项目的竞争力。他们将进行项目前和项目后评估，以衡量目标的实现情况以及项目对相关学生生活的影响。从科学上讲，这一合作伙伴关系将在NCAT和波士顿大学的教职员工之间建立长期的研究合作。伙伴机构的研究人员研究了广泛的现象，包括系外行星、星系磁场、活动星系核和blazar。然而，NCAT缺乏机构在黑暗天空地区获得研究级望远镜的机会。波士顿大学拥有1.8米长的帕金斯望远镜天文台，并可以使用4.3米长的洛厄尔发现望远镜进行夜间观测。通过整合资源，合作伙伴关系将成为发表科学期刊文章以及科学和公开演讲的引擎，其中许多演讲由两所大学的学生领导。这一合作伙伴关系将通过亲身体验从研究级望远镜获取和分析数据来增加NCAT学生的教育机会，为NCAT学生提供在波士顿大学进行暑期研究的机会，并为学生在天文学和随后的领导职位上继续研究生学习创造途径。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。

A new partnership will be developed between North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCAT), a research-active Historically Black College or University (HBCU), and Boston University (BU), a university with institutional access to large, research-grade telescopes. The partnership has three key goals: enhancing astronomy research and education at NCAT by providing access to research-grade telescopes; raising the visibility of astronomy as a career at NCAT and at high schools, colleges, and universities in the area; and increasing the number of minoritized students pursuing graduate degrees in astronomy and astrophysics, including at NCAT and at BU. The program will offer summer undergraduate internship opportunities at BU for NCAT students, designed to promote scientific advancement and career training simultaneously, while improving student competitiveness for admission to graduate programs. They will conduct pre- and post-project assessments to measure how well the goals are met and the impact of the programs in the lives of the students involved.Scientifically, the partnership will build long-term research collaborations among faculty at NCAT and BU. Researchers at the partner institutions study a wide range of phenomena, including exoplanets, galactic magnetic fields, and active galactic nuclei and blazars. However, NCAT lacks institutional access to research-grade telescopes in dark sky locations. Boston University owns the 1.8m Perkins Telescope Observatory and has access to observing nights on the 4.3m Lowell Discovery Telescope. By combining resources, the partnership will be the engine that produces scientific journal articles as well as scientific and public talks, many led by students from both institutions. The partnership will enhance educational opportunities of NCAT students through hands-on experience obtaining and analyzing data from research-grade telescopes, provide NCAT students access to summer research opportunities at BU, and create pathways for students to pursue graduate studies in astronomy and subsequent leadership positions.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.