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Undergraduate Student Research
and Telescope Development
The Initiative is actively pursuing the vital connection between
small telescopes and the training of a new generation of
astronomers and instrumentalists. A number of institutions with
limited budgets are developing research programs that utilize
low cost telescope technology. To date, several dozen
undergraduate students at Cuesta College have participated in
astronomical research programs resulting in published papers.
They utilize both local observatories and remote, robotic
observatories to observe a wide range of celestial phenomena
including visual double stars, eclipsing binaries, intrinsic
variable stars, asteroid rotation rates, and exoplanet transits.
Similarly, a dozen California Polytechnic State University, San
Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) engineering (ME and EE) students have
been involved in the design and fabrication of a research grade
alt-az telescope, instrument rotator, and low cost, active
primary mirror support electronics. These research and
engineering students have given presentations at multiple
Initiative workshops and conferences, and have coauthored
Initiative papers. |
