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Other EPO programs using real data
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Education & Outreach
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Vincent Pereira
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Freeport Public Schools
Freeport, NY
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October 2011
Mr. Pereira writes:
I am very pleased to inform you that Emerick Martin and Justin Millan
from the Freeport High School have been named semifinalists at the
Siemens Math, Science, and Technology Competition. The title of their
project was "Identification, calculation of three dimensional orbit
and flux of asteroid 2007 TD14". They will have a poster of their work
in the forthcoming AAS Meeting in Austin, Texas. We have also
submitted a manuscript on our work to the The Physics Teacher.
Since Mr. Pereira is now the District Science Coordinator for Freeport
Public Schools, he is now in a position to encourage more teachers
from his school system to apply for NITARP. One of the teachers from
Freeport, Tom Doyle, is a newly accepted member of the 2012 class.
January 2010
Mr. Pereira presented a poster at the January 2010 AAS. It is
available here.
January-June 2008
I teach in a gifted and talented school in New York City. I have a research class that meets for one period (45 min long) every day of the week. In this research class students are taught elementary Numerical Analysis and Computer Programming using IDL as the computer language. From this class I have selected 9 students to work with Dr. Varoujan Gorjian of the Spitzer Science Center on the research project titled "Reverberation Mapping of NGC 4051". The 9 students are Mr. John Tkaczuk, Mr. Redwan Saleh (both traveling with me this August to SSC), Ms. Paula Santos-Shevett, Ms. Alana Weissman, Mr. Thomas Stolarski, Mr. Tomascz Sadowski, Ms. Carrie Huang, Ms. Tiffany Lugo, Mr. Zhao Yu. The first two are juniors (Mr. Tkaczuk has completed AB Calculus) and the remaining students are sophomores for the academic year 2007-08.The student contributions to the Spitzer Project are as follows:
1. Ms. Carrie Huang gave a five minute presentation to the Upper School Assembly on the Spitzer telescope, and Infra-red Astronomy.
2. Mr. John Tkaczuk, Mr. Redwan Saleh, Ms. Paula Santos-Shevett, Ms. Alana Weissman, Mr. Thomas Stolarski, Mr. Tomascz Sadowski observed NGC 4051 on the New Mexico Skies Observatory telescope. Each student individually made observations on different dates. Each observation consisted of taking five images of NGC 4051 through the blue, visible, and red filters.
3. Mr. John Tkaczuk and Mr. Redwan Saleh installed Dr. Gorjian's photometry tool, APT, into our school computers. They are currently using this tool to calculate the ratio of the flux of active nuclei to the background stars. They will then plot this ratio versus time.
4. I have written a lesson plan on Correlation Functions that I plan to use in my research class this fall.
It is attached to this report as correlation_functions.doc.
In my opinion there are three advantages of the Spitzer Project:
1. Joy and thrill of Discovery:
The Spitzer telescope is taking measurements of NGC 4051 at 3.8 and 5.8 microns. Such measurements have never been taken before and may lead to an estimate of the lower bound on the thickness of the dust torus. To be the first group to perform such calculations is an experience of a lifetime.
2. Numerical Analysis using Correlation Functions:
Students will be taught the use of Correlation functions to calculate time lag. Correlation functions is a very important research tool that students may encounter again if they decide to pursue graduate work in physics, chemistry or engineering.
3. Computer Programming:
Students will calculate brightness writing simple computer programs. Education research has shown that computer programming facilitates logical thinking.
Future Plans
NSTA Regional Meeting, Charlotte, NC, October 30-Nov 1
I will give a presentation on my Spitzer work and Infra-Red Astronomy at this meeting.
Jeff Adkins
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John Blackwell
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Jacqueline Barge
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Christopher Border
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Kareen Borders
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Robert Bonadurer
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Merrill Butler
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Lauren Chapple
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Joseph Childers
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Howard Chun
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Wendy Curtis
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Richard DeCoster
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Stacy DeVeau
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Harlan Devore
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Cris DeWolf
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Velvet Dowdy
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Thomas Doyle
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Dean Drumheller
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Debbie Edwards
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Mike Ford
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Debbie French
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John Gibbs
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Peter Guastella
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Rosa Hemphill
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Ardis Herrold
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Vivian Hoette
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Chelen Johnson
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Virginia Jones
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Adam Keeton
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Susan Kelly
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Marcella Linahan
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Thomas Loughran
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Carolyn Mallory
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Anthony Maranto
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Christoper Martin
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Kevin McCarron
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Matthew McCutcheon
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David McDonald
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Shefali Mehta
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Cindy Melton
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Kate Meredith
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Lauren Novatne
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Kathryn O'Connor
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Caroline Odden
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Jeffrey Paradis
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Vincent Pereira
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Helen Petach
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Peggy Piper
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Peter Pitman
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Elizabeth Ramseyer
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Steve Rapp
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Theresa Roelofsen Moody
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Denise Rothrock
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Diane Sartore
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John Schaefers
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Sally Seebode
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Babs Sepulveda
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Timothy Spuck
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Darryl Stanford
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Linda Stefaniak
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Dwight Taylor
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Jennifer Tetler
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Beth Thomas
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Cynthia Weehler
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Lynne Zielinski
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