The “Out” in “Public Outreach”
at Weber State University
Brad Carroll, Dept. Physics, WSU
Four Strategies:
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Traditional outreach
Bringing selected groups to WSU
Sending faculty and majors to public schools
Interdisciplinary outreach to non-majors
Traditional Outreach
• Talks for Lions, Elks, Audubon clubs
• Guest commentaries in local papers, magazines
• Presentations for local elementary and high school
classes
Traditional Outreach
• Ritchey Lecture (endowed) given annually
• Gene Shoemaker, Steve Vogt (extrasolar
planets)
Traditional Outreach
• Get out where the people are!
• Physics booth at the Weber County Fair
• Exhibit in theater for “Attack of the Clones”
Traditional Outreach
• Planetarium run by director and 5 physics students
• 18 astronomy classes taught in planetarium
• Hosts ~200 events yearly to ~8000 people (nearly
half are special presentations to school groups)
• Budget $4500/yr, plus grant from Utah State Office
of Museum Services
Traditional Outreach
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Student-run public observing sessions at WSU
Free every Wednesday night
Supported by Ogden Astronomical Society
Most telescopes donated
Traditional Outreach
• ~20 off-site public star parties per year
• Numerous locations, including out-of-state and
public schools
• Run by faculty and Ogden Astronomical Society
Traditional Outreach
• Ogden Nature Center
• Summer Solstice Celebration
• Creatures of the Night (Halloween)
Traditional Outreach
• Natural Science
Museum
• Run by emeritus faculty
• Coordinates with
planetarium in serving
school groups
• Budget a few $k
• Grant from Utah State
Office of Museum
Services
• In Lind Lecture Hall
Student Activity Scholarships
• Full tuition waiver
• Participate in community and school district
outreach programs
• Planetarium and museum each have two
scholarships, physics department has one
• Prepare for a fight persuading your
university scholarship committee to grant
these!
Selected Groups to WSU
• S4 (Science Seminars for Superior Students)
• Run by Center for Science and Math Education
• Presentations by faculty and outside specialists
Selected Groups to WSU
• Utah State Science Olympiad
• Run by Center for Science and Math Education
• Physics faculty and students are event supervisors
Selected Groups to WSU
• MESA (Mathematics
Engineering Science
Achievement) and STEP
(Science, Technology,
Engineering) programs
• Increase the number of
underrepresented minorities
and women who enter and
succeed in science and
engineering
• Tours given by faculty and
physics majors
• Statewide, reaches over 3000
annually
Selected Groups to WSU
• Science teacher workshops (NASA, NSTA)
• Run by Center for Science and Math Education
• Taught by faculty
To Public Schools
• SPS tutoring in high schools
• Awarded the Blake Lilly Prize
To Public Schools
• “From Spreadsheets to Space” video
distributed to local high schools
• Produced by physics faculty and majors
To Public Schools
• Model rocket
clubs
• Supervised
by physics
faculty and
students
To Public Schools
• Project Starshine
• Shuttle will place a
mirrored satellite into
orbit for observation by
K-12 students
• Director Gil Moore
(Morton Thiokol)
• Physics faculty
supervise polishing of
mirrors by public
school students
To Public Schools
• “Gifted and talented” programs
• Activities led by physics faculty
To Public Schools
• After-school enrichment programs
• Presentations by faculty and students
Interdisciplinary Outreach
• Half-time physics faculty position
belongs to WSU Honors Program
• One course per semester taught for
Honors Program
• “Energy and the Environment”
“Energy and Entropy”
“Physics of the Mundane”
• Three Cortez professors in physics
• Physics faculty on Honors Faculty
Advisory Council
• “Pizza with a Prof” talks
Interdisciplinary Outreach
• “Physics in the Plays of Tom Stoppard”
• Read Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are
Dead, Arcadia, and Hapgood
• Theme: How much control do we have over our
lives (philosophy and physics)?
Interdisciplinary Outreach
• In preparation: “Measuring the World”
• Read Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon
The Measure of Reality by Alfred W. Crosby
Coming of Age in the Milky Way by Timothy Ferris
Interdisciplinary Outreach
• Interdisciplinary faculty collaborations
• A five-year series of independent study
courses on astronomy with a WSU artist
• Painting selected by Swedish Academy of
Sciences for 2003 Nobel physics poster
Interdisciplinary Outreach
• “Principles of
Physical Science” for
elementary education
majors
• Team-taught with a
chemist
• Students have close
contact with both
instructors
Interdisciplinary Outreach
• Physics majors as ambassadors
• Some SPS events open to all
Essential Ingredients
• Commitment to volunteer and service work
• Cohesive self-motivated group (faculty and students)
• Realistic goals