The Minnesota-New Mexico Partnership in Astrophysics

A research and education partnership in astronomy between two University of Minnesota campuses, at Morris (UMM) and at the Twin Cities (UMTC) and New Mexico Tech (NMT) will be developed. It is aimed at building a robust pathway for students at the institutions, in particular those at UMM, to enter and succeed in the field of astrophysics. The program will interweave the courses, workshops and research strengths at UMM, UMTC and NMT campuses. The projects will be data-intensive, leveraging the UMTC astrophysics faculty’s access to the most modern astrophysics datasets and computing resources, UMM faculty’s expertise in data science, and NMT’s access to the state-of-the-art facilities at the Magdalena Ridge Observatory. Both faculty and students will have opportunities for professional development including workshops and other activities designed to develop communication skills, as well as provide leadership, teamwork, and management skills. This partnership will provide a successful template that could be replicated in other programs and disciplines. Astrophysics has witnessed remarkable discoveries over the last decade, including the discovery of gravitational waves generated in mergers of binary systems of black holes and/or neutron stars. A series of such astrophysics research projects ranging from using gravitational wave-kilonova analysis to measure the accelerated expansion of the universe, to using the TURBO instrument at the Magdelana Ridge Observatory for gravitational-wave follow-up, to projects in space physics that will identify and follow solar flares, will be pursued by participating UMM students, mentored by interdisciplinary faculty and hosted at both UMTC and NMT campuses. The students will have the opportunity to spend multiple weeks at the Magdalena Ridge Observatory and visit other important astronomical sites and facilities. In education, a new Astrophysics Area of Concentration at UMM will be established at the beginning of the partnership. The project will also support post-baccalaureate and graduate students, develop summer camps and workshops for high school students, and pursue a series of activities aimed at promoting astrophysics (and science, more broadly) to the local communities. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.