Robotic telescope labs for survey-level undergraduates

Abstract

For the past dozen years, the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill has been developing a unique, survey-level astronomy curriculum, primarily for undergraduate students, with the goal of significantly boosting STEM enrollments on a national scale, as well as boosting students’ technical and research skills. Called “Our Place In Space!” (OPIS!), this curriculum leverages Skynet—a global network of ≈20 fully automated, or robotic, professional-grade telescopes located at some of the world’s best observing sites. We have recently received $1.85M from NSF’s IUSE program to expand OPIS! nationwide and $3M from DoD’s NDEP program to integrate a global network of 5-m to 30-m diameter radio telescopes into Skynet, and to develop a follow-up curriculum to OPIS!, called “Astrophotography of the Multi-Wavelength Universe!” or MWU! Both grants come with funding for participating instructors.