We advertised Round 1 of the Spitzer teacher's program
to teachers on a national level in September 2004 and at the end of October we selected the teachers for
the program. Of the 37 applications received, we chose 12 teachers. The selection was made with special attention to the teacher's education
background and experience. We had a group of strong candidates. Their background varies from physics, astronomy, and engineering, to
biochemistry and neurobiology.
We divided the twelve teachers into subgroups to work on Spitzer observing projects. Each subgroup is paired with a scientist from the
SSC community with help and collaboration from NOAO scientists. The scientist is the mentor and technical contact for the individual
subgroup and respective observing project. Six teacher proposals were accepted and submitted for observations.
The participating teachers attended a fall 2004 workshop to become familiar with the Spitzer Space Telescope archives, and to receive training
in infrared astronomy and observational techniques. The teachers also attended a January 2005 workshop to learn about the observation
planning process, and telescope and instrument capabilities. The teachers and their students had successful visits to the SSC to reduce
and analyze their Spitzer data and were able to present their findings at the January 2006 meeting of the AAS in Washington, D.C.
The teachers participating in Round 1 are: Jeff Adkins, Howard T. Chun, Lauren K. Chapple,
Harlan V. Devore, Anthony R. Maranto, Steve Rapp, Theresa Roelofsen,
Babs Sepulveda, Linda Stefaniak, Timothy S. Spuck, Beth Thomas, and
Cynthia Weehler. Support scientists include:
Ranga-Ram Chary,
John Feldmeier,
Varoujan Gorjian,
Don Hoard,
Steve Howell,
Mark Lacy,
and Luisa M. Rebull.
