top of page

Harvard-MIT Science Research Mentoring Program (SRMP)

I am the Deputy Director of the Harvard-MIT Science Research Mentoring Program (SRMP), since 2020. The SRMP is a program in which 12 high school students from the public Cambridge Ridge and Latin School conduct research projects with scientists at the CfA and MIT. I mentored three high school students on a project studying self-lensing binaries from 2020-2021.

As the Head of Observing from 2018-2020, I created a program in which I taught the students about lenses, mirrors, and telescopes, and guided them through the construction of galileoscopes. I additionally taught classes in astronomical imaging, instrumentation, and databases at the start of the program, and co-mentor the cohort. My work culminated in an observing night with the SRMP students, using the Clay Telescope and galileoscopes.

Through my work with these students, I have become a better scientist as I learn through teaching and am reminded of the passion and deep interest that first brought me to astronomy.

For more information on the SRMP, see:

https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/shrimp/home

IMG_9748.JPG
*SRMP.PNG

Designed by SRMP 2019-2020 student: Greggy Bazille

SRMP Students, October 2019. 

Harvard Observing Project (HOP)

 

From 2019-2020, as a part of the Harvard Observing Project (HOP), I led weekly observing sessions with the 16” Clay Telescope. HOP provides opportunities for undergraduate students at Harvard to participate in observational astronomy, with guidance from experienced observers.

  • Fall 2019/Spring 2020: I ran follow-up observations of TESS planet candidates. We observed targets from the SG1: Seeing-Limited Photometry target list. We analyzed the data on the spot with MaxIm DL and then later for a more complete analysis with AstroImageJ. I taught the students about transit data, background eclipsing binaries, and other sources of false positives.

  • Spring 2019: We worked on a series of different projects, including spectroscopy and lucky imaging. Using these different observing techniques allowed us to demonstrate how astronomers take advantage of different instruments in order to study a range of topics and take best advantage of observational limitations.

For more information on the HOP, see: http://astrolab.fas.harvard.edu/hop.html

bottom of page