Single Dish Summer School participants and staff with the 12-meter telescopes in the background
The Arecibo Observatory (AO) hosted the Single Dish Summer School on-site from May 16 - May 22, 2022. The Single Dish Summer School, which is operated jointly with the Green Bank Observatory, has trained enthusiastic radio astronomers for over 20 years, but this was the first time it was hosted at AO in nearly a decade.
The goal of the Single Dish Summer School is to educate astronomers interested in using single dish radio telescopes for astronomical research, as it covers the fundamental principles and techniques necessary to use such facilities in their future research. The material is aimed at the graduate level and targets mainly grad students, postdocs, and faculty and includes hands-on projects so the participants can implement what they learn using real data.
This year the school attracted over 250 applicants from over a dozen different countries. While the material is taught at a graduate school level, over 20 applicants were from primarily undergraduate institutions in Puerto Rico and therefore a few undergraduates did attend the school. Ultimately, the Single Dish Summer School hosted 31 participants in-person and 40 participants virtually. This hybrid setup allowed accessibility to the school for those unable to travel
In-person participants of the Single Dish Summer School and their mentors at the Arecibo Observatory
“Bringing the participants to the Arecibo Observatory is extremely valuable because it increases opportunities for hands-on experience, both with respect to working with data and instrumentation as well as maximizing one-on-one interactions with the experts leading the school,” says Dr. Allison Smith, an AO eminent postdoctoral researcher who led the Local Organizing Committee for the school. “Having so many energetic researchers on site is also very enriching for the staff!”
The Single Dish Summer School included lectures and radio science observational projects for the students to participate in. Some students will continue working on these projects throughout the summer. We are grateful to everyone who took the time to educate the next generation of radio astronomers! We are excited to have had the opportunity to host it in-person at Arecibo once more, thanks to the valiant organizing efforts led by Dr. Allison Smith.
Arecibo Observatory and Green Bank Observatory and other mentoring staff members of the Single Dish Summer School.
The Single Dish Summer School offered the following hands-on observational projects:
| Projects | Mentors |
| Molecular line Observations | Chris Salter, Tapasi Ghosh |
| Radio Recombination Line Observations | Allison Smith, Will Armentrout, Pedro Salas |
| Single-Pulse Analysis of Vela Pulsar | Benetge Perera |
| Binary Millisecond Pulsars | Ryan Lynch |
| Planetary Radar Observations | Sean Marshall, Luisa Zambrano Marin |
| Radio Continuum Mapping | Anish Roshi |
| Solar Mapping | P.K. Manoharan |
| Understanding RFI | Chris Salter, Tapasi Ghosh |
Single Dish Summer School Technical and Science Presentations:
Scientific Organizing Committee: P.K. Manoharan (Chair), Anish Roshi, Ben Perera, Will Armentrout, Ryan Lynch, Brenne Gregory, Allison Smith, Sravani Vaddi, Anna McGilvray.
Local Organizing Committee: Allison Smith (Chair), Anna McGilvray, Anish Roshi, Arun Venkataraman, Juan Oliver, Ricardo Correa, Luz Lopez, Sravani Vaddi.
Observatory tour guide and drivers: Mike Sulzer, Felix Fernandez, Allison Smith, Anish Roshi, Ricardo Correa, Shikha Raizada, Victor Negron, Gabriel Altuz.
Technical Staff Supporting the 12m operations, data processing, and web page management: Phil Perilat, Felix Fernandez, Luis Quintero, Arun Venkataraman, Giacomo, Comes, Jorge Herrera.
In addition, several staff members from UAGM, YEI, and UCF supported the successful implementation of the Single Dish Summer School.
Article Written by Dr. Tracy M. Becker, Dr. Allison Smith, Anish Roshi Technical Contact:
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Arecibo Media Contact |
Technical Contact |