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arXiv · 2103.09895

Robotic Telescope Labs for Survey-Level Undergraduates

Daniel E. Reichart
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Abstract

For the past dozen years, UNC-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!", or OPIS!, this curriculum leverages "Skynet" - a global network of ~2 dozen, fully automated, or robotic, professional-grade telescopes that we have deployed at some of the world's best observing sites. The curriculum has now been adopted by ~2 dozen institutions, and we have just received $1.85M from NSF's IUSE program to expand it nationwide, with funding for participating instructors. The curriculum works equally well online as in person.

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Daniel E. Reichart. 2021-03-17. Robotic Telescope Labs for Survey-Level Undergraduates. https://doi.org/10.1119/10.0007416

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