Summer 2000 -- Vol. 17, No. 1

Programs Reach to Community

Professor Daniel Weedman discusses astronomy with a visitor during AstroFest 1999.

Numerous Activities Entertain
and Educate
By Deborah A. Benedetti

Entertain and EducateWearing a sandwich board while walking around the University Park campus and through the streets of State College might not be every student's idea of fun, but for Penn State astronomy and astrophysics majors, this old-fashioned way of advertising helped attract 1,650 people of all ages to AstroFest 1999, according to Jane Rigby, student coordinator of the event.

"We spent several hundred dollars on publicity, but the $10 sandwich board was far more effective," said Rigby, a senior astronomy and astrophysics major and Schreyer Honors Scholar.

Visitors to the four-day AstroFest outreach program were treated to a wide variety of informational and interactive events. Penn State faculty, students, and staff members in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics gave guided tours of the solar system and conducted spectroscopy demonstrations, planetarium shows, and lectures.

In addition, there was an art exhibit, a movie about the Apollo Moon missions, and opportunities to view planets and stars through the department's telescopes atop Davey Laboratory.

Rigby and Jane C. Charlton, associate professor of astronomy and astrophysics, coordinated the event. Among the volunteers were Rachel Kuzio, a junior astronomy and astrophysics major, who coordinated the observing program, and Nahks Tr'Ehnl, a senior, who exhibited his astronomy-themed artwork during the event.

Penn State faculty members lectured during the program, including James A. Pawelczyk, assistant professor of physiology and kinesiology, who spoke on "Biology in Space;" Gordon P. Garmire, Evan Pugh Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, who presented a lecture on "The Invisible (X-ray) Universe;" Alexander Wolszczan, Evan Pugh Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, who talked about his research and discovery of "Extrasolar Planets;" Daniel Weedman, professor of astronomy and astrophysics, who discussed "Highlights from Hubble;" and Christopher Churchill, research associate, who spoke about "Life in the Universe."

The Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Penn State Astronomy Club jointly sponsored AstroFest with funding from the department and the University's student-activity fund.

The goals were "to promote public understanding and enjoyment of astronomy, to showcase astronomically themed art, to get kids excited about science, to showcase the astronomical research at Penn State, and to provide a fun, family activity at night during the Arts Festival," Rigby said.

She added that the Penn State volunteers had a great time "talking about what we do to interested people and showing off the department and the night sky."

To help deliver this outreach program, Rigby and Charlton called on undergraduate and graduate students and faculty and staff members in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, as well as family members.

 

From small-group, question-and-answer sessions to hand-on experience with telescopes and other astronomy-related activities, visitors to AstroFest enjoyed a number of different opportunities and options.

A similar astronomy outreach program, AstroNight, was held in September in conjunction with Parents' Weekend. More than 400 people attended, according to Karen Knierman, a Schreyer Honors Scholar, who coordinated the event with Charlton.

Activities included opportunities to view sunspots through a telescope during the day, an evening program of lectures, a planetarium show, and stargazing on the roof of Davey Lab. Penn State faculty and staff members, students, college alumni, and family members served as hosts for the event.

Throughout the school year, graduate students in astronomy and astrophysics present outreach programs for school children.

The students treat more than 2,000 children to planetarium shows and tours of the solar system, and help them make astrolabes and model comets and planets, each year.

Every clear Friday night when classes are in session at Penn State, undergraduate astronomy and astrophysics students host a public stargazing event on the roof of Davey Lab.

Each year the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics hosts a series of five lectures about astronomy through an effort funded largely by the Ronald M. and Susan J. Friedman Outreach Fund in Astronomy.

The Eberly College of Science also sponsors other public outreach programs. Since 1995, the college has presented annual Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science.

The series, which is comprised of from six to eight lectures aimed at a general audience, is conducted on Saturday mornings and funded by Pfizer.

Attendance has ranged from 60 during the first year to more than 330 this year. The lectures are audio-taped and video-taped and made available at cost to participants who request them.

The 2000 lectures series focused on the theme of Astrobiology: Looking for Life in the Universe.

Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science in previous years have covered the themes of the Origin and Evolution of the Universe, the Origin and Evolution of Life on Earth and Elsewhere, On Becoming Human: Our Evolutionary History, the Human Brain and the Human Mind, and How Things Work in Science and Technology.

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