The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Student-Led Engagement of Journal Article Authors in the Classroom Using Web-Based Videoconferencing

The learning environment described here uses Web-based videoconferencing technology to merge the traditional classroom journal article discussion with student-led interviews of journal article authors. Papers that describe recent applications of a given technique are selected, with the author engagement occurring at the end of a three or four week module covering the technique and its applications. Students prepare for the author engagements by reading the paper, discussing it as a class with the instructor, and developing a set of consensus questions to provide a framework for their conversation. Authors do not make formal presentations to the students, but instead answer questions. The smaller class sizes of upper-division undergraduate courses provide an intimate setting for these student-led conversations. Author engagements are designed to improve critical thinking skills in the content areas studied, improve interactive scientific communication skills, build scientific self-confidence in young scientists, and expose students to established scientist role models. The student–author interactions described here provide a cost-effective mechanism to expose students to diverse areas of chemistry and to bring expert scientists into the classroom. In situations where videoconferencing is not available or permitted, teleconferences provide a reasonable substitution

Design and Characterization of a Zn²⁺-Binding Four-Helix Bundle Protein in the Biophysical Chemistry Laboratory

A biophysical chemistry laboratory project is described that combines classroom and laboratory experiences to design and characterize a Zn²⁺-binding four-helix bundle protein. The design phase involves re-examining principles of protein structure and function in the context of four-helix bundle literature and then using the online computer game Foldit to build and optimize a 35-residue helix-loop-helix peptide that would coordinate Zn²⁺. The designed peptide and a control peptide containing the same amino acids but in a random sequence are purchased commercially. The peptides are then characterized by native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, immobilized-metal affinity chromatography, and ¹H NMR spectroscopy. The results indicate that the designed peptide adopts a higher-order structure than the control peptide, although not conclusively a four-helix bundle, and that it also binds Zn²⁺

Design and Characterization of a Zn²⁺-Binding Four-Helix Bundle Protein in the Biophysical Chemistry Laboratory

A biophysical chemistry laboratory project is described that combines classroom and laboratory experiences to design and characterize a Zn²⁺-binding four-helix bundle protein. The design phase involves re-examining principles of protein structure and function in the context of four-helix bundle literature and then using the online computer game Foldit to build and optimize a 35-residue helix-loop-helix peptide that would coordinate Zn²⁺. The designed peptide and a control peptide containing the same amino acids but in a random sequence are purchased commercially. The peptides are then characterized by native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, immobilized-metal affinity chromatography, and ¹H NMR spectroscopy. The results indicate that the designed peptide adopts a higher-order structure than the control peptide, although not conclusively a four-helix bundle, and that it also binds Zn²⁺