Project ASTRO: National Network

Each Project ASTRO™ National Network site represents a strong commitment on the part of a community or region to support improved science teaching and learning through astronomy. Each site is composed of a Lead Institution and a Local Coalition of supporters. Contact the local Site Coordinator (see map and site list below) for more information about Project ASTRO (and Family ASTRO) activities in your area. Click here to learn more about implementing a Project ASTRO site. Scroll down for more on Network Specifics.

Network Specifics

As mentioned above, each Project ASTRO National Network site is managed by a Lead Institution, which appoints a project Director and Coordinator. These local leaders are trained and supported by the National Project ASTRO Staff, and often by other members of the network as well. Each site also establishes and relies upon a Local Coalition of scientific and educational organizations to help the lead institution share the work, find financial and in-kind support, help put on regional programs for their educator-astronomer partners, and identify new partners.

In establishing the regional Project ASTRO coalitions, the national sites have brought together professional and amateur astronomy organizations, local observatories, planetariums, and science museums with school districts, community groups (e.g., 4H clubs, after-school programs, etc.), NASA Space Grant consortia, and other groups involved in improving science or technology education. At many sites, these institutions are finding other ways to work together as they get to know each other through Project ASTRO.

Lead Institutions and the communities they serve vary from site to site. In New Jersey for example, Raritan Valley Community College’s Planetarium staff have made Project ASTRO part of a larger program to improve science education in their area, along with other workshops and continuing education opportunities for local teachers. In Connecticut, the Wesleyan University Astronomy Department decided to serve the whole state. In Boston, the Center for Astrophysics, a major university-based research institute, is successfully sharing leadership duties with the Boston Museum of Science, and together, they serve an extremely large metropolitan area.

Project ASTRO National Network Site Map (Click on image to see a larger version)

The Project ASTRO National Network Sites

(please check the Family ASTRO list of sites for sites not listed here)

Baltimore, Maryland
Lead Institution: Towson University and Maryland Science Center
JeScott@towson.edu or rmiranda@towson.edu
www.towson.edu/fcsm/community_engagement/ProjectASTRO/index.asp

Boston, Massachusetts
Lead Institutions: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics/Boston Museum of Science
cclemens@cfa.harvard.edu
hea-www.harvard.edu/astro/BOSTON.html

Colorado
Lead Institution: Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
erin.wood@lasp.colorado.edu
http://lasp.colorado.edu/education/cpag/

Connecticut
Lead institution: Wesleyan University
Contact: wherbst@wesleyan.edu or cclemens@cfa.harvard.edu

Hawaii
Lead Institution: Gemini Observatory (on the Big Island)
jharvey@gemini.edu
www.gemini.edu/pio/

Michigan (and Northeast Wisconsin)
Lead Institution: Northwestern Michigan College
jdobek@nmc.edu
www.nmc.edu/rogersobservatory/astro.html

Nevada
Lead Institution: Space Science for Schools
pguttman@ss4s.org
www.ss4s.org

New Jersey
Lead Institution: Raritan Valley Community College
tmoody@raritanval.edu
www.raritanval.edu/planetarium/astronova/

New Mexico
Lead Institution: New Mexico Museum of Space History
emmanuel.davila@state.nm.us
www.nmspacemuseum.org/content.php?id=21

Ohio
Lead Institutions: Cincinnati Observatory Center and
Cleveland Museum of Natural History

deanobservatory@zoomtown.com (Cincinnati)
http://www.cincinnatiobservatory.org/forteachers.html

rkaelin@cmnh.org (Cleveland)
http://www.osgc.org/Programs.html#ProjectASTRO

San Diego, California
Lead Institution: San Diego State University
pblanco@sciences.sdsu.edu
http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/projectastro/

San Francisco Bay Area, California
Lead Institution: Astronomical Society of the Pacific
bayareaastro {at} astrosociety.org
www.astrosociety.org/baprojectastro.html

Texas
Lead Institutions: University of Texas at Austin and McDonald Observatory
dfl@astro.as.utexas.edu
[website coming soon]

Tucson, Arizona
Lead Institution: National Optical Astronomy Observatory
dugan@noao.edu
www.noao.edu/education/astrotucson.html

West Chester, Pennsylvania
Lead Institution: West Chester University
kvanlandingham@wcupa.edu

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