Month: February 2023

Support the Astronomy Department & DiRAC Students on April 6th, UW Husky Giving Day

Posted on | by Nikolina Horvat

On April 6th, 2023, join us on Husky Giving Day, an annual philanthropy event at the University of Washington!

Photo by Bruno C. Quint

Your support will fuel two student-focused programs

created by the UW Astronomy Department and DiRAC!

We’re on the brink of a new age of survey-driven discovery in astronomy. The flagship of this era will be the Rubin Observatory, set to open in Chile in late 2024. DiRAC researchers, students, and citizen scientists will use data from the Rubin Observatory to:

  • Scan the Solar System for hazardous asteroids
  • Discover interstellar comets
  • Search for new planets in our Solar System
  • Map the Milky Way
  • Detect the most energetic explosions in the universe
  • Help understand Dark Energy

Our students will learn about astronomy by participating in a once-in-a-generation wave of discovery, and you can help make this possible by supporting our summer programs.

James Davenport (standing), Associate director of the DiRAC Institute, meeting with the 2022 DiRAC Summer Research Prize recipients. Photo by Juan Rodriguez.

DiRAC Summer Research Prize recipients Josue Torres-Valdovinos (left) and Ishan Ghosh-Coutinho. Photo by Juan Rodriguez. 

Program for UW Undergraduate Students

Successfully piloted in 2022, the “Undergraduate Summer Research Prize” for UW undergrads will continue in 2023.

The program will award $3500 to UW undergraduate students working on summer research projects with faculty and staff at UW Astronomy. We are excited to continue this program – Thank you to our ongoing supporters!

Program for UW Graduate Students

Getting engaged with research early in graduate school can fundamentally change a graduate student’s career direction.

This year we are launching a new initiative called the  “Jumpstart Research Fellowship”. This program will award $3500 to incoming UW graduate students to enable them to start their research the summer before they arrive at UW – allowing students to focus on research prior to taking classes in the fall.

Such programs have been shown to accelerate and deepen students’ engagement in research, particularly for students from non-traditional pathways.

Our work, from outreach to education to fundamental research, is made possible in no small part by contributions from supporters like you. Thank you for your support; it truly makes a difference!

Rubin Observatory network technician Guido Maulen installs fiber optic cables on the Top End Assembly of the telescope mount.

Letter From the Director

Posted on | by Nikolina Horvat
Photo credit Christopher Michel.

2023 will be filled with opportunities to share with you our research and enthusiasm while the Rubin Observatory construction is marching towards completion.

DiRAC will host various events and lectures throughout the year. We invite you to join UW astronomers in conversations, ask questions and learn about discoveries we anticipate when Rubin begins its observations.

On March 1st, 2023, we are hosting a Planetarium Experience and Institute Tour called “A New Era of Discovery: Mapping the Universe with the Rubin Observatory”. Join us at this special event to meet our team, and learn what is to come from the most powerful sky survey telescope ever built.

On April 6th, 2023, we will again be participating in the Husky Giving Day! In 2022, we piloted DiRAC Research Prize for Undergraduate Research, a paid summer research opportunity for UW undergraduates that will continue in summer 2023. This Prize was made possible by generous funding provided by DiRAC supporters during the DiRAC Husky Giving Day 2022 campaign. This April, we are excited to expand the HGD participation to all of the Astronomy Department, with an eye on adding another program geared towards incoming graduate students. Those two programs will enhance the experience and offer a unique opportunity to our undergraduate and graduate cohorts.

This will be an important year of transition for us: after nearly a decade of building Rubin, we set our sights on delivering some of the first Rubin science from here at UW. We also continue building algorithms and software needed so everyone can utilize this remarkable dataset, democratizing opportunities with astronomical big data + ML. Our wonderful students, postdocs, staff researchers, and engineers make all these advances possible. They are supported from both public and private sources, including tremendous backing by foundations and individuals from Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. As we ramp-up for Rubin, DiRAC research and discoveries will more than ever be enabled by your continued support. Join us and participate in the next wave of astronomical discoveries from UW. Let’s make the Rubin Observatory a defining astronomical instruments of this decade, together.

For more lectures and events please visit our website or sign up for the DiRAC newsletter.

Thank you,

Mario Juric
Director, DiRAC Institute
Professor, Department of Astronomy

DiRAC EVENT: Planetarium Experience & Institute Tour

Posted on | by Nikolina Horvat
Credit Bruno C. Quint

On March 1st, DiRAC will host the first of a series of events “A New Era of Discovery: Mapping the Universe with the Rubin Observatory” at the UW Planetarium. It will be an evening of discussion and learning with UW astronomers building the largest sky survey in human history.

We’re at the brink of a new age of survey-driven discovery in astronomy. Where before we could only study a handful of objects at a time, new detectors, algorithms, and telescopes will soon allow us – and the entire world – to monitor billions.

The flagship of this era will be the Rubin Observatory, set to open in Chile in late 2024. Rubin will continuously gather data for over 20Bn stars, 20Bn galaxies, with billions of asteroid observations. In importance, it is a ground-based peer of the Webb space telescope.

In about a year, DiRAC researchers, students, and citizen scientists will use Rubin to scan the Solar System for hazardous asteroids, discover interstellar comets, and search for new planets in our Solar System. Our codes will map the Milky Way, detect the most energetic explosions in the universe, and help understand Dark Energy. Our students will learn about astronomy by participating in once-in-a-generation wave of discovery.

We’re looking forward to sharing this with the community of enthusiasts, friends, and supporters who make DiRAC possible. 

The event on March 1st reached its capacity very quickly and is now full. If you’d like to join us for the next one please email us at dirac@uw.edu and we’ll send you an early announcement.

For more upcoming events check out our website’s news and events page.

Support DiRAC & Astronomy Department at the Husky Giving Day 2023

Posted on | by Nikolina Horvat
University of Washington

On April 6th, 2023, join us on Husky Giving Day, an annual philanthropy event at the University of Washington – your support will fuel two student focused programs created by the Astronomy Department and DiRAC!

Program for UW Undergrads: Piloted in 2022, “Undergraduate Summer Research Prize” for UW undergrads will continue in 2023 – please support it and allow more students to participate! This program will award $3500 to UW undergrads working on summer projects with researchers in the DiRAC Institute. Read more about the 2022 cohort here!

Program for UW Grads: A new initiative this year is a “Jumpstart Research” – a program to bring in graduate students over the summer to work with faculty to start their research prior to getting involved in classes.

Our work, from outreach, education, and fundamental research, is made possible in no small part by contributions from supporters like you. Thank you for all of your past support; it has truly made a difference.