tune in

1
The Education and Public Outreach staff at NRAO
serve the scientific community, teachers and
students and the general public within the NRAO
mission to foster discovery and communicate those
discoveries to the public. Heres a summary of
our programs.
Our goal is to improve the visibility and impact
of NRAO and radio astronomy in the scientific
community. Toward that goal, we

• Exhibit at National and International meetings.
• Expand access to NRAO instruments through regular
  summer schools for astronomers and their
  students.
• Publish a quarterly NRAO newsletter.
  http//www.nrao.edu/news/newsletters/
• Assist scientists in writing press releases to
  publicize their discoveries. http//www.nrao.edu/p
  r/
• Conduct a yearly NRAO image contest to encourage
  the community to produce and submit visually
  compelling images. http//www.nrao.edu/imagegaller
  y/image_contest/

• As a national research center, the NRAO is
  uniquely qualified to influence science-teaching
  practice by involving teachers in real-world
  research experiences. NRAO hosts
• NRAO/NASA Astronomy Institute for 20 K12
  teachers, 1-week summer residency
• Chautauqua Program for 40 undergraduate faculty,
  3-day summer residency
• Master of Science Teaching Class for 10 K-12
  teachers, 2-week summer residency.
• Research Experience for Teachers for 2 - 4 high
  school science math teachers, 8-week summer
  residency.
• Sister Cities Program, a cultural exchange
  program for teachers in Magdalena, NM and San
  Pedro de Atacama in Chile.
• For more information http//www.nrao.edu/students
  /

tune in to the Universe.
At right, above Pre-service teachers form a
pyramid in front of the 40 Foot Telescope in
Green Bank. At right, below Teachers in New
Mexico build and test a working model radio
telescope.
2
NRAO aims to increase public awareness of radio
astronomy and the NRAO through a variety of
programs

• Cosmic Radio, 26 3-minute radio shows on radio
  astronomy distributed to NPR affiliated stations
  around the US.
• Free public tours at the VLA and GBT. Last year,
  over 65,000 people visited.
• NRAO Navigators program, training volunteers to
  deliver engaging presentations about the NRAO and
  radio astronomy in their communities.

• Star Parties in Green Bank and Socorro which
  combine radio and optical astronomy.
• Radio Astronomy programming on STScIs ViewSpace
  exhibits in museums around the country.
• For more information see
• http//www.gb.nrao.edu/gp/ or http//www.vla.nrao.
  edu

Public Tour at the VLA
Tourists at Science Center in Green Bank

• Through programs for graduate and undergraduate
  students, NRAO helps train the next generation of
  scientists and engineers. Programs include
• Undergraduate Summer Student Research
  Assistantships--Partially funded by the NSF's
  Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)
  program. Students spend the summer working with
  an NRAO advisor on a research project.
• Graduate Student Research Assistantships--Open to
  graduate students who wish to spend the summer,
  semester or up to two years working with an NRAO
  advisor on a research project.
• Co-op Program--Undergraduate engineering and
  computing students spend two or three semesters
  working with NRAO technical staff on a project at
  the forefront of technology.
• Essential Radio Astronomy (ERA)--An on-line
  one-semester course intended for astronomy
  graduate students and advanced undergraduates
  with backgrounds in astronomy, physics, or
  engineering. See http//www.nrao.edu/students/

• Programs for middle school and high school
  students seek to engage their interest in
  science, technology, engineering and mathematics
  (STEM) careers before they have made key academic
  or career decisions. Programs include
• WV Governors School for Math and Science for 60
  rising 9th grade students, 2-week summer
  residency
• Gaining Early Awareness Readiness for
  Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) for 20 rising
  9th grade students, 1-week summer residency.
• Quiet Skies Classroom Kits enable students to
  investigate, measure and report Radio Frequency
  Interference (RFI) data to the NRAO.
• For more information see http//www.gb.nrao.edu/e
  po/students/

WV Governors School students in front of the GBT
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a
facility of the National Science Foundation,
operated under cooperative agreement by
Associated Universities, Inc.