This is what happens when guys like Wasim Raja and Tanvir Hussain are in charge of hands-on activities. The three-week CCSU Astronomy and Astrophysics Summer School 2014 has been running with great gusto. I spent three half days with the students, talking about observing techniques, black holes, clusters of galaxies, dark matter, dark energy, with forays into related areas. They have hands on data reduction in the afternoon (this week the students were using IRAF to process optical images of the open cluster M67). Several talks have been delivered by astronomers from abroad using Skype. Wasim and co have turned this lecture room in the Computer Science department into a state of the art e-classroom. As you can see below, power cuts dont deter these folks. Next week, with the help of Tapasi Ghosh and Chris Salter, the students will operate the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, from this room. Wish I could be there! My highest admiration for the organising committee, particularly @Dhruba Saikia. How many places have the Vice-Chancellor of a University himself organising such an event at the ground level, and spending quality time with undergraduates?
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 18:19:29 +0000
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