Riley Ceria at the table, Walter Steiger at the vacuum demonstration.
Compiled by Staff of CSO, 111 Nowelo Street
Hilo, HI 96270 PH: 808-935-1909
OUTREACH ACTIVITIES
.........YEAR 2008.........
January 26, 2008. Onizuka Science Day This is the special day to commemorate
Hawaii's Astronaut Ellison Onizuka with exhibits, demonstrations, and lectures, including a special
presentation by current astronaut Barbara Morgan. Events took place at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
CSO contributed an exhibit table planned and prepared by Hiroko Shinnaga. Demonstrations consisted of
the microwave dish bouncing balls and the vacuum chamber demonstrating that sound does not
travel through a vaccum, but light does.
Read more...
Riley Ceria at the table, Walter Steiger at the vacuum demonstration.
February 1-8, 2008, Journey Through the Universe week. See description of the program from January 2007, below. Participating from CSO this year, in addition to Hiroko Shinnaga and Walter Steiger, were Riley Ceria, Riuchard Chamberlin, and Steve Baca. Shinnaga visited Hilo Union and DeSilva schools using her microwave dish demonstration. Steiger visited the Waiakea Elementary and De Silva schools with his illustrated talk on atmospheric optics. Ceria visited Waiakea and Kalanianaole schools talking about robotics. Chamberlin visited Hilo High School with a talk about his research at the South Pole. For the first time, we decided to include an observatory technician, Steve Baca, to talk about opportunities for careers in astronomy other than a Ph.D. astronomer. That worked out very well and was thought to be worthwhile. Read more...
May 3, 2008: AstroDay 2008
AstroDay was again held at the Prince Kuhio Mall from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
This year's event surpassed all previous events in terms of variety of organizations
represented and the space in the Mall that was occupied and the numbers of visitors!
CSO had 3 tables along with the microwave dish and a large display.
.........YEAR 2007.........
January 19-26, 2007 Journey Through the Universe is a national educational initiative developed by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education. The program takes entire communities , students, teachers, and families to the frontier. Scientists and staff from CSO participated in this program. Electronics engineer Riley Ceria made presentations on Robotics at Waiakea Intermediate School, at Hilo Intermediate School, and at the Connections Charter School. Astronomer Hiroko Shinnaga made presentations to two different groups at the Laupahoehoe School. She talked about how telescopes work, using her demonstration of dropping ping-pong balls on a parabolic microwave dish (see photo). Walter Steiger also made presentations to two different groups at Laupahoehoe School, speaking about the importance of observing everyday nature such as the sky, clouds, rainbows, halos, etc., and thinking about how they come about.
April 21, 2007: AstroDay 2007
AstroDay was again held at the Prince Kuhio Mall from 10 am to 5 pm. CSO's exhibit was organized by
Hiroko Shinnaga with the assistance of Diana Bisel, Riley Ceria, Ruisheng Peng, Ed Bufil,
and Richard Chamberlin.
The exhibit included the CSO model, the parabolic dish demo (see above), a robotic vehicle demo, and the
"create-your-own-stars" art project for kids, which was such a great hit last year also. The robotic
vehicle was designed and built by CSO engineer Riley Ceria and illustrates the work he has been doing
with high school students to stimulate their interest in science via robotics.
June - August 2007. The Suimmer Intern Student this summer was a graduate
student from the University of Orsay (Paris), John Carter. John is a graduate student in
astrophysics. It was his desire to work at CSO to gain experience in submillimeter astrophysics.
At CSO he assisted Dr. Chamberlin with the analysis of submillimeter data taken at the south pole.
Read more...
Upon his departure the staff had a small farewell party at which he was presented with a framed picture
of CSO.
Pictured, left to tright: Hiroshige Yoshida, Pat Nelson, John Carter,
Riley Ceria, Hiroko Shinnaga, and Richard Chamberlin.
Educational Materials
A discussion of how daylight, twilight, and nighttime vary throughout the year and with the latitude of the observer is presented in an article entitled NIGHT and DAY. This article can also be accessed in pdf format.
Public feedback
Hawaii Tribune-Herald news on robotics, December 15, 2007. This news article cites the work that CSO Engineer Riley Ceria has done as mentor to the Waiakea High School robotics program.
Department of Education, May 31, 2001, expresses appreciation for CSO's educational
outreach efforts in support of their teachers.
'Ainahau O Kaleponi, October 24, 2000. This group of California Hawaiians
is thanking CSO for a trip to Mauna Kea and a tour of the observtory and the Hale Pohaku facility.
UH Astronomy Club, November 19, 2000, thanking CSO for a visit to
the Hilo base faility.
Center for Independent Living, August 8, 2001, thanking CSO for a tour
of the Hilo base facility.
UHH Upward Bound, July 22, 2000, Thanking CSO for assistance in
mentoring students.
Pahoa High School, April 28, 1999, thanking CSO for conducting
a summit tour for a group of Pahoa H.S. students.
University of Michigan, July 22, 2002, thanking CSO for
conducting a summit tour of the observatory for University of Michigan students.
KPUA radio station, June 3, 2002, thanking CSO for for appearing on
a Community Forum program.
University of Hawaii, Undersea Research Laboratory,
November 2002, thanking CSO for a tour of the summit observatory.
Waikea Elementary School, March 2003, thanking CSO for Dr. Martin Houde's
contribution to their Career Day ativities.
University of Hawaii, Hilo, May, 2003. The Department of Physics
thanking CSO for the teaching of a course in Optics by Dr. Richard Chamberlin.
Observatorio ARVAL, Caracas, Venezuela, February 28, 2004,
thanking CSO for sending copies of "Sars Over Mauna Kea", the tabloid published by the
Hawaii Tribune-Herald.
Waiakea High School, October 23, 2006, commending the asistance of CSO
staff engineer Riley Ceria on his assistance in developing their robotics program.
EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES
PUBLIC SERVICE
-Last updated by W. Steiger, 13 May 2008.