Monthly Archives: October 2013

Early Undergraduate Research at Two-Year Colleges

Scientific Inquiry

My article on early undergraduate research at two-year colleges is featured in the November issue of The Physics Teacher.

http://tpt.aapt.org/resource/1/phteah/v51/i8/p476_s1?isAuthorized=no

“Two-year college (TYC) physics teachers are not often required to provide student research experiences as a part of their contracted duties. However, some TYC physics faculty members are interested in developing research opportunities for their freshman- and sophomore-level students, often called “early undergraduate research” (EUR). Here are some suggestions if you are interested in developing and managing EUR at your TYC.”

Upcoming MCC Launch

High-Altitude Ballooning

Because of the government shutdown, our NASA contact is unable to send us the new high-efficiency solar panel we were planning to test. We are proceeding with the launch, but we will be trying some new instruments and procedures to get the data we are interested in taking.

We will be flying a spectrometer to take spectra, a pyranometer for measuring irradiance, and the voltage and current of some standard solar panels, as well as the usual measurements of temperature, pressure, latitude, longitude, and altitude. We are having a GoPro camera modified to take full-spectrum (UV/Visible/IR) and if it arrives before our launch, we will fly it too.