Academics:Pre-MAP
From Astronomy Facility Wiki
The Pre-Major in Astronomy Program (Pre-MAP) is a new program housed in the University of Washington Astronomy Department that started Autumn 2005. Pre-MAP is for entering UW students who are interested in math and science and who are traditionally underrepresented in astronomy. This page is dedicated to the organization of the program. You may visit the Pre-MAP website at http://www.astro.washington.edu/premap/index.php
Potential Pre-MAP job descriptions can be found here: Pre-MAP Job Descriptions
Useful funding opportunities for Pre-MAP students are here: Academics:Pre-MAP_-_student_opportunities
The Pre-MAP Calendar is here: Pre-MAP_Calendar
Information on planning the Pre-MAP Field Trip
Contents |
The Pre-MAP Database
We've put a lot of information into a database to make it easier to track our Pre-MAP student's college careers as well help recruitment. The goals of this project are to make sure we can demonstrate the effectiveness of Pre-MAP to funding agencies (by comparing our students to students who didn't do Pre-MAP) and to expedite finding the right pool of people to recruit for Pre-MAP. We keep a lot of private information in this database, so keep in mind the common sense advice in the FERPA (Family Education Rights and Privacy Act) brochure.
So how do you get to the database? It's hosted on a computer called Carrion, but you can connect from any computer on our network. We're keeping an eye out for a nice GUI interface, but for now we've just got the basic MySQL client. Use it to login to the MySQL server on carrion as the user premap, to use the database called premap (the -p means 'use a password', the password is 'premap'):
mysql -h carrion -u premap -D premap -p
and... I just moved all the examples to the MySQL page. Sorry that it makes this page a bit disjointed, but now all the example stuff is in one place. So, go to the MySQL page to see what you can do next!
Pre-MAP webpage
The public webpage is stored like all astronomy webpages, on portal.phys. See Web_Pages for details. Most of the content is fairly straightforward to maintain and edit, but must be done as the user 'premap.' Currently, Eric Hilton is the webmaster.
Image Galleries
We use some tools to automatically create image galleries. First, take the original images and tarball them into
/www/astro/groups/premap/html/images/originals/
So they don't get lost.
Then, in /images/events, create the relevant directory, ie, TJO_2009/
and put the images there.
Then, cd to the directory, and run:
~/resize.py
This is a python script to find all the .jpg files and size them to something reasonable for the webpage.
Then, run a program called 'igal' -Image GALlery - to create the html. igal is customizable, but the defaults are currently set up, so from the directory, simply type 'igal' You can edit index.html to include a better comment about the gallery.
Now, you have to edit gallery.php (from the /html directory) to include the new album. To create a cover, do:
convert -resize x150 IMAGE.JPG album_cover_small.jpg
This creates a 150 pixel high version of IMAGE.JPG, and calls it album_cover_small.jpg
Possible Funding Sources
| Possible Source | Investigator | Contact | Notes |
| NASA Space Grant | Oliver, John B, Charlotte | Julie Lutz, Janice DeCosmo, Tracy Maschman Morrissey | |
|---|---|---|---|
| NASA Education and Public Outreach | Stephanie | Available for scientists funded by the NASA Science Mission Directorate (i.e. space telescope time or archive funding) options for single PI or "institutional proposal" - max $15K each | |
| Internal UW funds | Jill (Amy) | GSFEI (Grad School Fund for Excellence & Innovation) says "coming soon!" to funding "Interdisciplinary Programs & Initiatives" among other things http://www.grad.washington.edu/gsfei/gsfei.htm | |
| NSF (Not STEP) | Sarah L | ||
| Office of Education | Sarah Jane | ||
| WA state funds | Nick | Jennifer Schoen | |
| SDSS | Amy | Julie Lutz | SDSS doesn't fund Education/Public Outreach programs. |
| Alfred P. Sloan Foundation | Amy | Ted Greenwood | |
| LSST | Amy | Suzanne Jacoby | LSST does not have a pool of money for E/PO. However, NSF allows supplements to grants for the purposes of funding undergraduate research (such supplements are fairly common/easy to get, and applications for such are encouraged). We are in discussion phase with Suzanne Jacoby regarding supplement to LSST's NSF grant to fund a couple Pre-MAP students. Funding could go to research during school year or for summer research. Supplement application needs to include either description of undergrad student, or description of how student(s) will be recruited to work on the project(s). |
| Other Foundations | Eric A. & Daryl | ||
| Astronomical Society of the Pacific SEED Grants | Jill, Daryl | Simple Effective Education and Dissemination (SEED) Grants For Astronomy Researchers -- Maximum $2500. A general E/PO fund that could be used for travel or student stipends. Deadline June 15, 2007. Website: http://www.astrosociety.org/education/grants/grants.html | |
| The Seattle Foundation | Jeremiah | Michelle Barnett | The Seattle Foundation invites proposals to support programs that serve first generation college students. The deadline for submitting proposals is May 15, 2009.
Our proposal should address how our program benefits first generation students and how support from The Seattle Foundation would increase our ability to serve these students. They are looking to support programs that provide direct support for first generation students through advising, mentoring, tutoring, and other strategies that promote full participation and success in the rich educational opportunities UW offers: including coursework, study abroad, community service, research experiences, performing arts, and internships, to name a few. Proposals may request up to $25,000. Proposals may include requests for operating support. The 2009 RFP consists of a two-phase internal application and review process. Final proposals will be selected through the internal review process. The UW may submit only three requests. We'll need to provide a brief endorsement letter, suitable for submission to the Foundation, from the Dean to Provost Phyllis Wise. |
| Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) NSF | Jeremiah | Daphne Y. Rainey |
This award is for an individual or organization and receives $10,000. It's possible that the person gets to have a dinner with the President. The PAESMEM Program seeks to identify outstanding mentoring efforts that enhance the participation of groups (i.e., women, minorities, and persons with disabilities) that are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The awardees serve as leaders in the national effort to develop fully the Nation's human resources in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. We won't be eligible until Oct. 2010. |
