NASA boosts Big Isle astronomy education
By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — The National Space and Aeronautics Administration has awarded a $675,000 grant to two University of Hawai'i-Hilo professors to expand astronomy education for Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders on the Big Island.
Advertiser library photo • Jan. 14, 1999
"New Opportunities Through Minority Initiatives in Space Science" is the name of the three-year award being coordinated at the Institute for Astronomy in the UHH Park. Partners include UHH; the state Department of Education; the NASA Infrared Telescope facility, operated by the UH Institute for Astronomy; and Waimea's W.M. Keck Observatory, which has twin telescopes on Mauna Kea.
Through a grant project, internships will help UH-Hilo astronomy degree candidates gain access to Mauna Kea's summit, where facilities include the Subaru Observatory, left, and the Keck telescopes.
The program initially will focus on professional development for teachers. A summer program for elementary and secondary science teachers is being planned for a week in July.
UHH physicist Richard Crowe and UHH Education Chairwoman Alice Kawakami are heading the grant project, which also will help UHH astronomy degree candidates gain access to Mauna Kea through paid student internships and other means, said program spokesman Nathan Chang.
That, in turn, will "give Hawai'i's people a stake in what happens on Mauna Kea," Chang said.
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More details about the project are available on the Internet
UHH launched its astronomy undergraduate program in 1998 with two students. Twenty-five students are now enrolled in the program.
"The ultimate aim of all this is to attract more students of Hawaiian/Pacific ancestry to enter careers in astronomy and space science," Chang said.
