Outreach and Education Activities
I see spreading the excitement of doing science as an important aspect of being an astronomer. Below are my favorite outreach activities.
California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS)
COSMOS is a four-week residential program for talented high school students. Astronomy cluster students learn through inquiry-based activities about galaxy evolution and formation, variable stars, and other topics using observations they take with the 40" telescope at Lick Observatory.
Maui Akamai Internship Program
I participated for two years as an instructor of the Maui Akamai Short Course, which is part of the education and outreach program of the Center for Adaptive Optics. This one-week course serves as preparation for the Maui Akamai internship program, which connects Hawaiian undergraduates with internships in Maui's research and technology sector. Through a series of day-long inquiry activities, the students learn about the properties of light. More importantly, they learn how to put the scientific method into use, and how to pose and answer questions when confronted with unexplained pheonomena.