College of Marin Physics and Astronomy department has been awarded a Kickstarter Grant from the “Preparing for Astrophysics with LSST Program” from the Vera Rubin Observatory. This grant is supported by the Heising-Simons Foundation and managed by Las Cumbres Observatory.

Our program, entitled “Building a Diverse Generation of Rubin Scientists”:

• Present the Vera Rubin Observatory and its activities aimed at attract prospective researchers from non-traditionally research academic institutions
• Present the Vera Rubin Observatory Science Collaborations (SC), their activities and their efforts to create a more inclusive research environment
• Broadening participation in research opportunities with Rubin Science Collaborations (SC), specifically training faculty and students from Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) and academic entities serving a traditionally underserved student populations (e.g. rural and sub-urban metropolitan areas)
• Establishing a long-lasting collaboration between faculty at such institutions and members of the SCs in order to create a “pipeline” that may result in the creation of a diverse astronomical research workforce

To achieve this goal, this workshop and subsequent activities provide four faculty-student teams (FST) the following:

• A virtual 4 days hands-on workshop to introduce the FSTs to research-specific topics, the Rubin Science Platform, and the Rubin data stream since its commissioning phase (tentative date for the workshop is April 2022)
• Research mentorship from one more of the SCs through the entire period of the project (March-July 2022) who will help the FSTs achieve their science objectives
•  An introduction to an existing project focused on one of the many Science Collaboration research topics (Transient and Variable Star; Stars, Milky Way and Local Volume; and the Solar System Science collaborations)
• A grant-writing session focused on NSF HBCU-UP and HSI programs

Teams will be selected based on their possible research interests, their availability to attend the workshop and the subsequent activities, and their astronomical/computing background in relation with the Rubin SCs projects/mentors needs.

Selected teams will receive a financial support of $4,000 (faculty) and $2,500 (students) for attending the workshop and continuing their project in the following months (funds must be spent before the end of July 2022)..

Final research products will be presented during a final program event in July 2022.

To express your interest in participating in this program, please complete the Google form by February 10, 2022: https://forms.gle/PnDFPBGkdAZvsvBk7

Any inquiries about this initiative should be addressed to the PI, Dr. Antonino Cucchiara (acucchiara@marin.edu).