Collaborative Research: A Partnership in Central Missouri in the Era of Multi-messenger Astrophysics

该奖项是根据2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助的。 一个新的研究和教育伙伴关系将在密苏里州中部发展，作为密苏里州林肯大学和密苏里州科技大学（ST）之间的试点项目。这一新伙伴关系的核心使命是在密苏里州中部代表性不足和服务不足的学生中提供天文学和天体物理学方面的培训和增加研究机会，建立在一个新生的天体物理学计划的基础上。这个为期两年的项目是一个试点项目，旨在建立一个长期的合作伙伴关系，最终为林肯大学和其他周边少数民族服务机构的学生提供正式的S T博士桥梁课程，为增加密苏里州天文学的多样性做出贡献。 团队成员将定期参加当地图书馆和高中的公开讲座，向公众宣传基础科学的重要性。该计划将提供学生交流访问，冬季和夏季研讨会以及夏季研究实习，以培养代表性不足和服务不足的学生，这将使他们能够考虑STEM职业或天文学博士课程。这些活动将培训年轻的研究人员在科技，以提高他们的演讲，指导和管理技能。该提案小组进行补充研究，涵盖宇宙学和星系演化，引力波物理学和星际介质物理学。在项目期间，Hobby-Eberly望远镜暗能量实验预计将在高红移下释放暗能量特性的测量。激光干涉引力波天文台将在O 4观测运行中探测更多的引力波源，并推进黑洞和中子星的知识。机器学习应用程序将在推进这些数据分析方面发挥重要作用，这些数据分析将被利用来培训学生作为教育工具。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

This award is funded in whole under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). A new research and education partnership will be developed in central Missouri as a pilot program between Lincoln University of Missouri and the Missouri University of Science and Technology (S&T). The core mission of this new partnership is to provide training and increase research opportunities in astronomy and astrophysics among underrepresented and underserved students in central Missouri, building on a nascent astrophysics program. This two-year project is a pilot program toward the creation of a longer-term partnership which leads eventually to a formal S&T PhD bridge program for students at Lincoln University and other surrounding minority-serving institutions, contributing to increasing Missouri’s diversity in astronomy. The team members will regularly participate in public lectures at the local library and high schools to promote the importance of fundamental science among the public.This program will offer student exchange visits, winter and summer workshops, and summer research internships to train underrepresented and underserved students, which will allow them to consider a STEM career or PhD program in astronomy. These activities will train young researchers at S&T to improve their presentation, mentoring, and management skills. The proposal team conducts complementary research covering cosmology and galaxy evolution, gravitational-wave physics, and the physics of the interstellar medium. Within the project duration, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment is expected to release the measurement of dark energy properties at high redshift. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory will detect more gravitational wave sources in the O4 Observing run and advance the knowledge of black holes and neutron stars. Machine learning applications will play significant roles in advancing these data analyses, which will be leveraged to train students as educational tools.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.