Astrophysics Partners Reaching Across the State of Colorado

位于博尔德的科罗拉多大学（CU）和位于科罗拉多杜兰戈的指定的为美洲土著人服务的刘易斯堡学院将在天文学方面建立新的研究和教育伙伴关系。 这种伙伴关系的主要目标是为美洲原住民学生开辟天文学专业的道路。在三年的时间里，该计划将使总共九名刘易斯堡大学本科生通过在CU博尔德天体物理学系和位于CU校园内的NSF国家太阳天文台提供为期10周的夏季研究实习来培养天体物理学研究技能。 为了扩大学生的专业和社会社区，新的暑期课程将插入到校园内几个完善的计划。该计划将提供研讨会，实地考察，有色人种研究生的近同行指导，与CU的美洲原住民和土著研究中心的对话，在全国会议上展示海报的机会，以及在烟囱岩国家纪念碑的祖先普韦布洛考古遗址的天体团聚。参加该计划的学生将学习光谱学，Python编码和望远镜，以及科学交流，撰写摘要，并创建一个科学海报。他们的夏季研究项目将涵盖广泛的天体物理学，包括白色矮星中金属的起源，系外行星大气的性质，理解太阳上的磁纤维，以及不同的超大质量黑洞质量测量对引力波信号的影响。学生们将在CU研究研讨会上展示他们的科学成果，一个促进墨西哥裔/西班牙裔和美洲原住民科学会议的社会，以及一个美国天文学会会议。通过这些研究经验，以及申请研究生院和实地考察天文学相关工作场所的研讨会，本科生将为进入研究生院或其他天文学职业道路做好准备。 该奖项反映了NSF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。

A new research and education partnership in astronomy will be developed between the University of Colorado (CU) at Boulder and Fort Lewis College, a designated Native American-serving college located in Durango, Colorado. The primary goal of this partnership is to open pathways to astronomy professions for Native American students. Over the course of three years, this program will enable a total of nine Fort Lewis College undergraduates to develop skills in astrophysics research, by providing 10-week summer research internships at the CU Boulder astrophysics department and the NSF’s National Solar Observatory, which is located on CU’s campus. In order to expand the students’ professional and social community, the new summer program will plug into several well-established programs on campus. The program will provide workshops, field trips, near-peer mentoring from graduate students of color, conversations with CU’s Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies, poster presentation opportunities at national conferences, and a celestial reunion at an Ancestral Puebloan archaeological site at Chimney Rock National Monument.The students participating in this program will learn about spectroscopy, Python coding, and telescopes, as well as science communication, writing an abstract, and creating a scientific poster. Their summer research projects will cover a wide range of astrophysics, including the origin of metals in white dwarfs, the properties of exoplanet atmospheres, understanding magnetic fibrils on the Sun, and the effect of different supermassive black hole mass measurements on gravitational wave signals. The students will present their scientific results in posters at a CU research symposium, a Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science meeting, and an American Astronomical Society meeting. Through these research experiences, as well as workshops on applying to graduate school and field trips to astronomy-related workplaces, the undergraduates will be well poised for entry into graduate school or other astronomy career paths. This award advances the goals of the Windows on the Universe Big Idea.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.