LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products

(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg$^2$ field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000 square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5$\sigma$ point-source depth in a single visit in $r$ will be $\sim 24.5$ (AB). The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg$^2$ with $\delta<+34.5^\circ$, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, $ugrizy$, covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg$^2$ region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to $r\sim27.5$. The remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products, including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion objects, available to the public and scientists around the world.Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures available from https://www.lsst.org/overvie

Summer Research and Collaborative Professional Development Experience for NSF RET Teachers in Advanced Materials and Manufacturing

The current collaborative National Science Foundation Research Experience for Teachers (NSF-RET) site placed seventeen in-service and pre-service teachers with research mentors at one of the three regional universities WSU, CSU, and UD to work on engineering research projects. These research projects were chosen in such a way so that they were relevant to regional strengths in advanced manufacturing and materials. In addition to research, the RET teachers participated in various professional development (PD) activities such as “boot camp” facilitated by ASM Materials Education Foundation prior to the start of their research experience, field trips, seminars given by guest speakers and group work that produced K-12 curriculum related to the teams’ research experience. The teacher groups also presented the developed STEM curriculum and the final laboratory project results, and provided regular guided reflections regarding their efforts during the six-week program. This paper presents a brief overview of the collaborative RET project and details the achievement during the first project year. Emphasis is given to the collaborative PD activities of all seventeen teachers and the research projects performed by the two WSU RET groups comprised of four in-service and two pre-service teachers. Copyright © 2016 by ASM

Summer Research and Collaborative Professional Development Experience for NSF RET Teachers in Advanced Manufacturing and Materials

The current collaborative National Science Foundation Research Experience for Teachers (NSF-RET) site placed seventeen in-service and pre-service teachers with research mentors at one of the three regional universities WSU, CSU, and UD to work on engineering research projects. These research projects were chosen in such a way so that they were relevant to regional strengths in advanced manufacturing and materials. In addition to research, the RET teachers participated in various professional development (PD) activities such as “boot camp” facilitated by ASM Materials Education Foundation prior to the start of their research experience, field trips, seminars given by guest speakers and group work that produced K-12 curriculum related to the teams’ research experience. The teacher groups also presented the developed STEM curriculum and the final laboratory project results, and provided regular guided reflections regarding their efforts during the six-week program. This paper presents a brief overview of the collaborative RET project and details the achievement during the first project year. Emphasis is given to the collaborative PD activities of all seventeen teachers and the research projects performed by the two WSU RET groups comprised of four in-service and two pre-service teachers

Summer Research and Collaborative Professional Development Experience for NSF RET Teachers in Advanced Materials and Manufacturing

The current collaborative National Science Foundation Research Experience for Teachers (NSF-RET) site placed seventeen in-service and pre-service teachers with research mentors at one of the three regional universities WSU, CSU, and UD to work on engineering research projects. These research projects were chosen in such a way so that they were relevant to regional strengths in advanced manufacturing and materials. In addition to research, the RET teachers participated in various professional development (PD) activities such as “boot camp” facilitated by ASM Materials Education Foundation prior to the start of their research experience, field trips, seminars given by guest speakers and group work that produced K-12 curriculum related to the teams’ research experience. The teacher groups also presented the developed STEM curriculum and the final laboratory project results, and provided regular guided reflections regarding their efforts during the six-week program. This paper presents a brief overview of the collaborative RET project and details the achievement during the first project year. Emphasis is given to the collaborative PD activities of all seventeen teachers and the research projects performed by the two WSU RET groups comprised of four in-service and two pre-service teachers. Copyright © 2016 by ASM

Summer Research and Collaborative Professional Development Experience for NSF RET Teachers in Advanced Manufacturing and Materials

The current collaborative National Science Foundation Research Experience for Teachers (NSF-RET) site placed seventeen in-service and pre-service teachers with research mentors at one of the three regional universities WSU, CSU, and UD to work on engineering research projects. These research projects were chosen in such a way so that they were relevant to regional strengths in advanced manufacturing and materials. In addition to research, the RET teachers participated in various professional development (PD) activities such as “boot camp” facilitated by ASM Materials Education Foundation prior to the start of their research experience, field trips, seminars given by guest speakers and group work that produced K-12 curriculum related to the teams’ research experience. The teacher groups also presented the developed STEM curriculum and the final laboratory project results, and provided regular guided reflections regarding their efforts during the six-week program. This paper presents a brief overview of the collaborative RET project and details the achievement during the first project year. Emphasis is given to the collaborative PD activities of all seventeen teachers and the research projects performed by the two WSU RET groups comprised of four in-service and two pre-service teachers

Summer Research and Collaborative Professional Development Experience for NSF RET Teachers in Advanced Materials and Manufacturing

The current collaborative National Science Foundation Research Experience for Teachers (NSF-RET) site placed seventeen in-service and pre-service teachers with research mentors at one of the three regional universities WSU, CSU, and UD to work on engineering research projects. These research projects were chosen in such a way so that they were relevant to regional strengths in advanced manufacturing and materials. In addition to research, the RET teachers participated in various professional development (PD) activities such as “boot camp” facilitated by ASM Materials Education Foundation prior to the start of their research experience, field trips, seminars given by guest speakers and group work that produced K-12 curriculum related to the teams’ research experience. The teacher groups also presented the developed STEM curriculum and the final laboratory project results, and provided regular guided reflections regarding their efforts during the six-week program. This paper presents a brief overview of the collaborative RET project and details the achievement during the first project year. Emphasis is given to the collaborative PD activities of all seventeen teachers and the research projects performed by the two WSU RET groups comprised of four in-service and two pre-service teachers. Copyright © 2016 by ASM

Leveraging Regional Strengths for STEM Teacher Professional Development: Results from an NSF RET Program Focused on Advanced Manufacturing and Materials

Due to the shortage in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workforce, it is imperative to inspire K12 students to pursue STEM disciplines. Materials and advanced manufacturing (M&AM), an important industry for the U.S. economy, requires a STEM knowledgeable workforce. To address the shortage while increasing awareness of M&AM, 3 Ohio universities collaboratively designed a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Teachers (NSF-RET) project. Desimone, Porter, Garet, Yoon, and Birman\u27s (2002) theory of effective professional development and Bandura\u27s (1977) theory of social learning guided the design to provide 36 K12 teachers with knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy to engage their students in M&AM activities. A convenience sample comprised 36 in-service teachers and 6 pre-service teachers. The convergent parallel mixed methods project analyses documented that in-service teachers\u27 attitudes towards teaching STEM improved (z = 3.17, p \u3c 0.0002, r = .49), along with their expected student outcomes (z = 2.77, p \u3c 0.006, r = .49) and their adoption of investigative cultures in their classrooms (z = 2.34, p \u3c 0.02, r = .48). The qualitative analyses documented their increased awareness of M&AM. The findings have 3 implications: (a) participants\u27 increased STEM awareness and skills related to M&AM empowered them to potentially increase students\u27 interest in STEM and M&AM; (b) participants\u27 increased awareness of regional M&AM industries and higher education M&AM research contributed to their ability to share real world M&AM examples in the STEM classroom; and (c) participants\u27 changed teaching practices potentially contribute to preparing more students for STEM careers

Leveraging Regional Strengths for STEM Teacher Professional Development: Results from an NSF RET Program Focused on Advanced Manufacturing and Materials

Due to the shortage in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workforce, it is imperative to inspire K12 students to pursue STEM disciplines. Materials and advanced manufacturing (M&AM), an important industry for the U.S. economy, requires a STEM knowledgeable workforce. To address the shortage while increasing awareness of M&AM, 3 Ohio universities collaboratively designed a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Teachers (NSF-RET) project. Desimone, Porter, Garet, Yoon, and Birman\u27s (2002) theory of effective professional development and Bandura\u27s (1977) theory of social learning guided the design to provide 36 K12 teachers with knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy to engage their students in M&AM activities. A convenience sample comprised 36 in-service teachers and 6 pre-service teachers. The convergent parallel mixed methods project analyses documented that in-service teachers\u27 attitudes towards teaching STEM improved (z = 3.17, p \u3c 0.0002, r = .49), along with their expected student outcomes (z = 2.77, p \u3c 0.006, r = .49) and their adoption of investigative cultures in their classrooms (z = 2.34, p \u3c 0.02, r = .48). The qualitative analyses documented their increased awareness of M&AM. The findings have 3 implications: (a) participants\u27 increased STEM awareness and skills related to M&AM empowered them to potentially increase students\u27 interest in STEM and M&AM; (b) participants\u27 increased awareness of regional M&AM industries and higher education M&AM research contributed to their ability to share real world M&AM examples in the STEM classroom; and (c) participants\u27 changed teaching practices potentially contribute to preparing more students for STEM careers

Leveraging Regional Strengths for STEM Teacher Professional Development: Results from an NSF RET Program Focused on Advanced Manufacturing and Materials

Due to the shortage in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workforce, it is imperative to inspire K12 students to pursue STEM disciplines. Materials and advanced manufacturing (M&AM), an important industry for the U.S. economy, requires a STEM knowledgeable workforce. To address the shortage while increasing awareness of M&AM, 3 Ohio universities collaboratively designed a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Teachers (NSF-RET) project. Desimone, Porter, Garet, Yoon, and Birman\u27s (2002) theory of effective professional development and Bandura\u27s (1977) theory of social learning guided the design to provide 36 K12 teachers with knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy to engage their students in M&AM activities. A convenience sample comprised 36 in-service teachers and 6 pre-service teachers. The convergent parallel mixed methods project analyses documented that in-service teachers\u27 attitudes towards teaching STEM improved (z = 3.17, p \u3c 0.0002, r = .49), along with their expected student outcomes (z = 2.77, p \u3c 0.006, r = .49) and their adoption of investigative cultures in their classrooms (z = 2.34, p \u3c 0.02, r = .48). The qualitative analyses documented their increased awareness of M&AM. The findings have 3 implications: (a) participants\u27 increased STEM awareness and skills related to M&AM empowered them to potentially increase students\u27 interest in STEM and M&AM; (b) participants\u27 increased awareness of regional M&AM industries and higher education M&AM research contributed to their ability to share real world M&AM examples in the STEM classroom; and (c) participants\u27 changed teaching practices potentially contribute to preparing more students for STEM careers