{"id":60832,"date":"2017-05-26T16:06:28","date_gmt":"2017-05-27T02:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=60832"},"modified":"2019-03-06T13:16:56","modified_gmt":"2019-03-06T23:16:56","slug":"maunakea-scholars-program-formalized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2017\/05\/26\/maunakea-scholars-program-formalized\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s next generation of astronomers"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> &lt; 1<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minute<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"620\" height=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/STYnSFBTqHw?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0\" title=\"Youtube video player\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s leading academic institutions formalized an educational partnership designed to bring <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s high schoolers into one of the world\u2019s most advanced observatory communities. The Maunakea Scholars program helps aspiring astronomers envision their potential of pursuing a career in <abbr title=\"Science, Technology, Engineering and Math\">STEM<\/abbr>-related fields. It is the first program of its kind internationally to allocate observing time at major observatories for the direct educational advancement of students.<\/p>\n<p>The collaborative agreement was signed on May 26 by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cfht.hawaii.edu\/\">Canada-France-<span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Telescope<\/a> Director Doug Simons, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/\">University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span><\/a> President <strong>David Lassner<\/strong> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hawaiipublicschools.org\/Pages\/Home.aspx\"><span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> State Department of Education<\/a> Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi at the <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ifa.hawaii.edu\/\">Institute for Astronomy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The observatories on Maunakea are the best in the world,&rdquo; said Lassner. &ldquo;This collaboration will provide some of our own high school students from across the islands with unprecedented opportunities to conduct real research as we work to grow the next generation of world-class astronomers here at home.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The memorandum will result in the formation of an official working group operating to ensure the program\u2019s continued success and the allocation of its resources. This committee will play a critical role in developing authentic, problem-based learning experiences that aid high school students in their college and career-readiness.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Students are most successful when they are offered hands-on, innovative opportunities that allow them to be fully immersed in what they are studying,&rdquo; said Matayoshi. &ldquo;Maunakea Scholars puts the student in the shoes of the astronomer not just for a day, but a lifetime. It\u2019s truly been an honor to be a part of this endeavor in elevating <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s schools as leaders in STEM.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The current cohort of Maunakea Scholars includes five local schools, including Kapolei High School, Kalani High School and N\u0101n\u0101kuli High School on <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span>, and Wai\u0101kea High School and <span aria-label=\"Honokaa\u201d>Honoka&#699;a<\/span> High School on <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Island. Six facilities have committed to the initiative by allocating telescope time for student exploration, including Canada-France-<span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Telescope (CFHT), Gemini Observatory, James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, (operated by East Asian Observatory) Las Cumbres Observatory, NASA Infrared Telescope Facility and Subaru Telescope. Programming and education partners also include <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imiloahawaii.org\/\"><span aria-label=\"Imiloa\">&#699;Imiloa<\/span> Astronomy Center<\/a>, who are helping develop and provide the cultural educational dimension of the Maunakea Scholars program.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Related<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2017\/02\/08\/maunakea-observatories-award-nanakuli-and-kapolei-high-school-students-with-research-time\/\"><em>Maunakea Observatories award N\u0101n\u0101kuli and Kapolei students with research time<\/em><\/a>, <em><abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> News<\/em>, February 8, 2017 <br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/hilo.hawaii.edu\/news\/stories\/2016\/11\/07\/maunakea-scholars-program\/\"><em>Maunakea Scholars program to provide more <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>  students with telescope time<\/em><\/a>, <em><abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo Stories<\/em>, November 7, 2016<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&ldquo;It has been fascinating and inspirational to see these students formulate ingenious observing proposals,&rdquo; said Simons. &ldquo;These students never thought they\u2019d have access to the most powerful telescopes in the world to conduct their own research and it\u2019s remarkable to see the magic that occurs when they are provided with the tools and confidence to make it happen.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_60840\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-60840\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/system-maunakea-scholars-mou.jpg\" alt=\"3 people signing mou and four people standing\" width=\"620\" height=\"349\" class=\"size-full wp-image-60840\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/system-maunakea-scholars-mou.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/system-maunakea-scholars-mou-260x146.jpg 260w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-60840\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kathryn Matayoshi, Doug Simons, David Lassner and the Mauanakea scholars<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>More about the Maunakea Scholars program<\/h2>\n<p>To qualify, students in participating schools must conduct astronomical research and assemble a comprehensive proposal that can be conducted at an observatory. Selected proposals are then matched with graduate students from the <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> Institute for Astronomy and telescope staff to individually guide them through their research.<\/p>\n<p>Initiated by Canada-France-<span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Telescope and Gemini Observatory, and in partnership with the Maunakea Observatories and the <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> State Department of Education, Maunakea Scholars successfully launched in 2015 to bring <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s aspiring young astronomers into the observatory community. This is the first program of its kind internationally, leveraging the most powerful collection of telescopes in the world for the direct educational advancement of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s high school students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The collaborative agreement will develop more opportunities for local high school students to utilize educational potential of the Maunakea Observatories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":60841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,12],"tags":[34,292,35,659,1347,313,1164,9,947,56],"class_list":["post-60832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","category-video","tag-astronomy","tag-imiloa-astronomy-center","tag-institute-for-astronomy","tag-maunakea","tag-maunakea-scholars","tag-stem","tag-telescope","tag-uh-manoa","tag-uh-system","tag-video-2","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/system-maunakea-scholars-mou-f.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60832"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92064,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60832\/revisions\/92064"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}