PIERRE AUGER OBSERVATORY

1. PIERRE AUGER OBSERVATORY Education and Outreach Malargüe, November 15, 2006 Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

2. Outline • auger_outreach@fnal.gov • Public talk last night • Outreach position at Lamar Community College • Visitor center and visitor statistics • Auger web page • Monday’s outreach parallel session • Tomorrow’s parade – be there! Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

3. Reminder For news and information related to the Auger Education/Outreach Task subscribe to the auger_outreach@fnal.gov mailing list 1. Send an e-mail message to listserv@fnal.gov 2. Leave the subject line blank 3. Type "SUBSCRIBE AUGER_OUTREACH FIRSTNAME LASTNAME" (without the quotation marks) in the body of your message 39 people on the list to date Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

4. Los Andes article on web, 7 November 2006 Congratulations to Beatriz García and Cristina Raschia for special mention for Best Educational Video in the 2nd Scientific Cinema Festival sponsored by the Secretary of Science and Technology in Argentina Film title “Messengers from Space” aimed at students 6 – 11 years old Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

5. Public talk last night Hans Blümer gave an excellent talk in English last night 125 people in attendance, students studying English Middle school and secondary school age Advertised locally by English teacher Mariela Milicevic Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

6. Lots of questions asked at the end Examples “Does the Observatory affect the environment?” “Who is James Cronin?” “Do cosmic rays affect the earth?” “What happens when something goes wrong at the Observatory?” “Why do YOU want to study cosmic rays?” “Who put the money for the project?” “Have you had any results yet?” Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

7. Teacher training workshop tonight Rebeca López (Mexico) will present another of her hands-on training and discovery workshops for 15 Malargüe science teachers tonight Time: 19:30 Location: “Old” James Cronin School Topic: Optics experiments using simple materials Photos from previous workshops Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

8. Auger Outreach Coordinator/Instructor Position at Lamar Community College Lamar, Colorado • Position funded for one year by the Colorado Community College System • The search has converged !! • Search Committee: Anne-Marie Crampton (LCC Public Relations, chair), • Dan Minor (LCC Dean), David Northrup (LCC Physics teacher), • Chris Rundell (Land owner), Greg Snow (Auger outreach task leader) • Our top candidate, Bradley Thompson, has accepted the position and will • start in January 2007 • Bradley Thompson: • Has a Masters Degree in Physics and grad student research experience in • gamma ray astronomy • Has taught physics, math, computer science, web page design at international • high schools in many countries for several years • Is personable, enthusiastic, excellent public speaker Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

9. Our Challenge • Keep Brad’s “job jar” full and stay in touch with him • We envision weekly phone or video meetings with Brad, • myself, Auger collaborators in Colorado, others • Some Initial Tasks • Lots of reading and self-education on UHECR’s and Auger • Start to formulate northern site outreach plan and proposal • Position and signage for SD tank at LCC • Establish temporary Visitor Center at LCC and fill it, advertise it • Schedule a series of presentations at schools, civic groups • Auger North outreach web page and other web contributions • … • Funds available for equipment, supplies, travel • You will meet Brad at the April collaboration meeting Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

10. Visitor Center Statistics Many thanks to Analía Cáceres We have surpassed 25K visitors ! Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

11. Visitor Center Statistics Total: 25,972 visitors through 14 November 2006 Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

12. Visitors from Argentina Santa Fé Buenos Aires Mendoza Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

13. Visitors from different countries Uruguay Alemania Brasil Canadá Chile USA Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

14. Visitor Center Review • We are in the process of revitalizing the Visitor Center experience • Yesterday, review of VC presentations by Analía Cáceres chaired • by Angela Olinto • Review committee will submit report with suggestions for updating • and improving presentations • We are collecting a “wish-list” of new and improved displays • for the Visitor Center – commercial cloud chamber, for example • Please submit your ideas or contributions to auger_outreach@fnal.gov Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

15. Improvements to the Auger home page underway Fermilab has contracted with Xeno Media (Kevin Munday et al.) to make improvements to public Auger web site. Hank Glass is Auger contact for this work. Xeno Media has done web sites for Fermilab’s main page (www.fnal.gov), Interactions.org, Symmetry magazine They also did the interim improvements at the time of the November 2005 Celebration Plan to include new cosmic ray simulations by group at University of Chicago (Randy Landsberg et al.) More ideas are welcome! Time frame to make this happen is by end of year We will be asking for collaboration feedback on new elements Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

16. Draft design for new www.auger.org home page See next slide Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

17. Release of Auger datato students, teachers, general public • Kindly consider carefully the proposal by X. Bertou at tomorrow’s • CB meeting • Release of 1% of Auger data for educational purposes • Strongly supported by the Education/Outreach task • The customer base: a large audience of students and science • teachers exists that can benefit from access to real Auger events • if accompanied by user-friendly educational exercises Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

18. Outreach parallel session during this meeting • We had a productive outreach planning and brainstorming session • Monday afternoon • 25 people in attendance • We request to allot a parallel time slot for outreach discussions at • each collaboration meeting Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

19. Ideas emerging in parallel sessionand subsequent discussions • New Auger poster competition • November 2007 2nd Science Fair in Assembly Building • Extend outreach to ALL Malargüe Department schools • (42 total primary through secondary schools) • Distribute an “Auger Gazette” each month or quarter to schools, • hotels, Office of Tourism, etc., with Observatory news • Have brochures available/given out at the El Sosneado agriculture • stop – many travelers see the tanks along the road and don’t • know what they are Discussed Tuesday with Verónica Bunsters Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

20. Cosmic Ray Observatory Project (CROP) in Nebraska Incorporate the many worldwide high school cosmic ray efforts into a “Greater Auger Observatory” Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

21. 2000 2004 Auger collaborators participatingin Malargüe Day parade – a tradition !! 2003 2005 Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow

22. Reminder: this year’s Malargüe Day Parade is Tomorrow: Thursday, November 16, 2006 • Assemble at the clock at 12:30 sharp • Look for Auger banner • We are group number 80 in the parade • order, behind all the schools and before • the various clubs • Our presence in this event is important • and expected by the Municipality • First time attendees – participation required Auger Collaboration Meeting, Malargüe, November 2006. Education and Outreach – G. Snow