Researchers at West Virginia University are paving the way for students from two-year community colleges and technical schools to pursue astrophysics and astronomy at four-year universities like WVU.
The project is called Student Teams of Astrophysics Researchers—Undergraduate Program (STARS-UP) and is funded by the National Science Foundation’s Partnerships in Astronomy and Astrophysics Research and Education initiative. This project expands and diversifies the astronomy community by creating pathways for students to do more research. I am interested in astronomy and astrophysics.
Maura McLaughlin, department chair and Eberly Family Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy in the WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, said the program brings together different types of institutions and aims to get more students involved in STEM research. He said it would be.
“We want to create a sustainable pipeline to careers in these fields for two-year college students interested in science,” she said. “They probably don’t really know what kind of science they’re going to study, and they don’t really know if they have the knowledge they need to go to a four-year college. They participate in research projects, You can also gain research experience and become part of the community.”
WVU is currently affiliated with WVU Potomac State University in Keyser. Faculty and students from both schools will conduct collaborative research, initially meeting primarily online and then meeting in person from fall to spring. In addition, participants will attend a summer workshop at Greenbank Observatory.
“We’re going to have a bilateral research agreement,” McLaughlin said of the partnership with Potomac State University’s Joan Vogtman, who will help recruit students, establish research teams and plan school visits. He said he plans to do so. “The goal is for Potomac State students to come to WVU as undergraduates, earn a physics degree here, and then hopefully go on to graduate school or a career in STEM. ”
Similarly, she sees STARS-UP as an opportunity to reach students from diverse backgrounds. The program focuses specifically on students from low-socioeconomic-status communities, first-generation students, and underrepresented minorities who may not have access to STEM education.
The partnership includes four four-year universities: WVU, Penn State Abington, the University of Washington Bothell, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Five community and technical colleges – Cascadia College, Lorain County Community College, Montgomery County Community College, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Waukesha, and WVU Potomac State University. and Greenbank Observatory. Each two-year college will be paired with a neighboring four-year college to conduct interactive research and form mentorships.
“Every community college has students from underrepresented groups, but they are a different kind of underrepresented student,” she said. “WVU has a lot of students from rural backgrounds, but we don’t have a lot of racial diversity. At our partner, Montgomery County Community College in suburban Philadelphia, there are fewer rural students and fewer African-American students. We’re going to have more students. And our partner in Washington state, Cascadia University, has a lot of Native American students.”
The four-year facilities are part of the North American Nanohertz Gravitational-Wave Observatory, a scientific collaboration co-directed by McLaughlin that uses highly magnetized neutron stars called pulsars to emit low-frequency gravitational waves. Detect. NANOGrav engages K-12 students through its Outreach Team to provide hands-on research experiences in astrophysics.
The second part of the project will track participants as they move through the research partnership. Researchers plan to observe how different interventions, such as Zoom versus in-person instruction, affect students’ experiences. McLaughlin said he hopes the data will give researchers a blueprint for how to implement similar programs at other institutions.
“You’ll probably find that students in West Virginia will have a much greater impact from the Morgantown visit, whereas for students in Philadelphia it will be less important and a greater impact will come from the Zoom meeting. I get it. I work during the day. We’re going to eliminate barriers to going to a four-year college and find ways to address them in a local way.”
McLaughlin said he expects students coming from two-year colleges to excel at WVU.
“They are some of our brightest students,” she said. “They’re working hard and thinking about their intentions and plans. That’s a good thing because West Virginia is at a critical juncture. The percentage of young people going to college is decreasing. So , if we want to increase economic prosperity in West Virginia, the best way to do that is by creating STEM jobs and producing students who can fill those jobs.”
