Adventures in Supercomputing SUMMER TEACHERS INSTITUTE

1
Adventures in SupercomputingSUMMER TEACHERS
INSTITUTE

• SAN JUAN COLLEGE
• Farmington, NM
• June 3, 2002

2
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

• Summer Teacher Institute
• Funded by a Grant from NASA Ames Research Center,
  Mountain View, California
• Through Applied Research and Educational Outreach
  of The Center of Excellence for Information
  Systems Engineering and Management
• With Special Assistance of New Mexico Tech,
  Technet and San Juan College

3
A NATIONAL PROBLEMWHY YOU ARE HERE

• WE HAVE A SEVERE SHORTAGE OF SCIENTISTS AND
  ENGINEERS
• YOUR HELP IS URGENTLY NEEDED

4
CRITICAL SHORTAGE LOOMS

• NASAs Administrator recently stated that
• 30 to 50 of NASA scientists could retire in
  the next 3 to 5 years
• The current pool of possible replacements in
  colleges is sorely inadequate in real numbers
• The pool of minorities and women is even more
  limited

5
THE OPPORTUNITY

• CAREERS will be available to qualified applicants
• The hiring frenzy will provide NASA and other
  agencies with an opportunity to DIVERSIFY as
  never before
• NASA AiS TSU can aid in this STRATEGIC effort

6
A PROPOSAL TO ATTRACT UNDERSERVED MINORITIES TO
SCIENCE MATHMATICS

• A Mountain to climb to bring
• African Americans
• Spanish Americans
• American Indians
• Back to their roots in the study or
• WHATS OUT THERE

7
Adventures In SuperComputing (New Mexico)
Pearl Cohn High School
TSU Resources ? Streaming Video Astronomy ?
Proven Astronomy Research ? Astrobiology
Institute ? NRTS ? CASS ? Astronomy Educator ?
Student Research Involvement ? Summer Student
Program ? Exploring Minds Project ? Viable
Partners At HBCU and OMU Institutions ? An HBCU,
9000 Students, 76 African Americans,
Willingness To Grow And Change
ALABAMA AM ? Existing NRTS Partner ? 85
African American ? Strong Physics Program ?
Strong NASA Ties URC
SOUTH CAROLINA STATE ? Existing NRTS and CASS
Partner ? 2500 Mostly African American Students ?
Hubble Astronomer (Bubble Nebula) ? Summer
Institute In Astronomy
UNIVERSITY OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS ? Interested New
Partner ? NRTS Partner With SCSU ? Interested In
Astronomy Program

• UTEP
• ? Hispanic Serving Institution (65)
• ? NRTS Experts In Multimedia
• Existing Partners In NRTS and URC
• 15,000 Students

• NEW MEXICO
• STATE UNIVERSITY
• ? Hispanic And Native American Serving
  Institution
• ? Manages Apache Point
• Existing Partner Dr. Anderson

• KENTUCKY STATE UNIVERSITY
• ? NRTS Partner (7 Years)
• ? NOVA Partner (First Direct NASA Money)
• 90 African American
• 2,500 Students

• SAN JUAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE
• ? Native American And Spanish Serving Institution
• ? Existing Partner With Adventures In
  SuperComputing
• Teaching There This Summer

• SAN ANTONIO COLLEGE
• ? Hispanic Serving Institution
• ? Astronomer On Staff
• Interested In Partnering

• SOUTHWESTERN INDIAN
• POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
• ? 95 Native American
• ? Cultures With Interest In Stars
• Existing Partners With MU-SPIN

• THOMAS JEFFERON HIGH SCHOOL
• ? Existing Partner With Dr. Alvarez
• ? Exploring Minds
• Open To Innovation

• UNIVERSITY SCHOOL
• OF NASHVILLE
• ? Existing Partner With Dr. Alvarez
• ? Exploring Minds
• Open To Innovation

• ADVENTURES IN SUPERCOMPUTING
• ? 66 Schools
• ? 120 Teams
• 450 Students On Teams Doing Research

High School Outreach
2-Year Colleges
Close Partners
CENTER OF EXCELLENCE Tennessee State University
8
Pathways To The Future
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ? Opportunities For
Upper Division And Graduate Study ? Good Contacts
Of Mentioning (Dr. Burks)

• THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA
• ? Opportunities For Upper Division And Graduate
  Study
• ? Good Contacts Of Mentoring (Dr. Whorton)
• Want To Partner With TSU

• THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
• ? NOAO And Kitt Peak
• ? Opportunities For Upper Division And Graduate
  Study
• Good Contacts For Mentoring At NOAO And U of Az
  (Dr. Whorton)

• UCLA ASTROBIOLOGY
• ? Opportunities For Upper Division And Graduate
  Study
• ? Good Contacts Of Mentoring (Dr. Gary)
• Want To Partner With TSU

CENTER OF EXCELLENCE Tennessee State University
PARTNERS
2-Year Colleges
High School Outreach
9
External Associations

• AAVSO
• VTIE
• SPACE FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
• VIRTUAL OBSERVATORAY
• NASA DAX LIBRARY

10
Tennessee State University Main Campus.
Avon Williams Campus
11
SOME STATISTICS

• K 3 90 OF STUDENTS INTERESTED IN SPACE
  SCIENCE
• GRADES 7 8 30 STILL INTERESTAED
• GRADUAUATING HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS LESS THEN 1
  INTERESTED IN SPACE SCIENCE

12
Highlighted TSU Asset

• Astronomy 1010 and 1020 Streaming Video
• A different course to be available anytime,
  anywhere if you can be connected to the Internet

13
Astronomy 1010 Style

• Interviewing the professionals
• Over 40 interviews completed
• Appropriate comments in course flow
• Complete interview on demand of the student

14
TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITYCenter of Excellence
in Information Systems Engineering and
Management Performance Summary1995-2001

•  
• Refereed Publications 385
•  
• Non-Refereed Publications 188
•  
• Presentations 388
•  
• Seminars 142
•  
• Student Support 41 UG per Yr
• 10 G per Yr
•  
• Staff 7 Full-time Researchers 13 Part-time
  Faculty 3 Post-Docs

15
Astrobiology Institute

• Approved in March 2002
• 200,000 seed funding
• University renovating lab space
• Partnership developing with Ames Research Center
  and UCLA

16
PROPOSED APPROACH

• TSU serves as a clearinghouse to facilitate
  PATHWAYS to Space Science
• Begin recruiting in High Schools
• Provide Introduction to Astronomy
• Recruit using the web
• Recruit using minorities on Campus Sites
• Tout program at National Math and Science
  Meetings for Secondary Teachers

17
PROPOSED APPROACH

• Recruit through MU-SPIN Network
• Recruit at Tribal College Meetings
• Recruit at Spanish Serving College Meetings
• Develop Summer High School Program
• Expand Existing Summer Program for College
  students

18
PROPOSED APPROACH

• Tailor Summer Program for Matriculation to NASA
  Co-op programs
• Nurture contacts at major universities to mentor
  students from TSU Clearinghouse
• Provide funding for students (scholarships)
• Involve students in real projects i.e. Space
  Watch, AAVSO, Data Analysis, and Management

19
CONCLUDING PARTNERSHIP

• Lets Climb the Mountain Together
• Bring Diversity to NASA
• ONE STUDENT AT A TIME