Research Opportunities

MARIACHI encourages the participation of high school students, high school science teachers, and undergraduate students in scientific research. Participation can be as spectators watching as data is collected, as active collaborators in the taking and analysis of data, or as associates in creating separate and innovative projects under the supervision of MARIACHI teachers and scientists. Projects are available in all areas of the experiment.

MARIACHI radar data includes information on meteors, lightning, cosmic rays (we hope!), and perhaps new phenomena (you hope!). Students can take on projects in the classification of the data, and the correlation of the data with information from the MARIACHI scintillation detectors.

MARIACHI Scintillators provides rates and arrival times of cosmic rays over a wide range of energies. Students can study rates from individual sites or correlate the results with data from other sites using the computing grid. Correlations can also be made with many of the phenomena discussed above, and with phenomena that we have not yet thought of exploring.

MARIACHI Cyberinfrastructure. Students can participate in the development of the grid computing at the cutting edge of evolving cyberinfrastucture. Students will be able to submit computing tasks to the MARIACHI cluster and the Grid.

One of the main goals of MARIACHI is to involve high school students in active research contributing to the science goals of the experiment. Each participating school will have a scintillation counter array gathering information on cosmic ray activity. Radar will be also collecting data. Student research will have access to the body of data and will correlate the information to other natural phenomena. To obtain information on the natural phenomena students may have to design an appropriate device to collect appropriate information. The data can be correlated to natural phenomena such as barometric pressure, cloud activity, humidity, and many others. There are no boundaries for creativity!. These studies are only limited by the imagination of the participant. In the process of doing research students will be making use of the experiments cyberinfrastructure.

To read more about the current research students and past projects, visit our Research Student Corner.

Undergarduates are already playing a critical role in the development of MARIACHI as an experiment and as an educational vehicle. Currently undergraduates are responsible for the web site development, radio data classification, antenna design, and beam test designs and analysis. Interested undergraduates may be eligible to apply to BNL's SULI program , or Stony Brook University's NSF-REU Physics Program. Stony Brook University undergraduates may also be eligible to apply for the Battelle and/or URECA Summer Research Programs.

MARIACHI offers the opportunity for teachers to participate in an ongoing science experiment with many possibilities for personal as well as professional growth. Teachers can also particpate in facilitating the educational aspects of MARIACHI, by developing in-class lessons utilizing MARIACHI equipment, our "lending library" of demonstartions, and by becoming part of the cyberinfrastucture being implemented for the MARIACHI data transmission and analysis.

Teachers (pre-service or in service) that would like to participate in MARIACHI research may be eligible to to apply to the BNL PST program or LTSPD programs.

LIGASE offers science education opportunities at all levels. Our workshops for K-12 teachers are in strong demand and our summer science programs for middle and high school students fill to capacity each year. The Biotechnology Teaching Center has been expanded to three laboratories and refocused on state standards; last year it hosted over 4,000 middle and high school students carrying out inquiry-based experiments in molecular biology.

For undergraduate students we sponsor seven courses and offer many fellowships to support faculty sponsored research in the basic sciences. For graduate students we offer Masters Degrees in Teaching in the sciences as well as teaching fellowships. Post doctoral fellows may also receive teaching fellowships and faculty are offered support, laboratory space and resources for designing new courses.

Individuals from over 300 institutions, some as far away as California, have taken part in LIGASE activities. We are continually on the lookout for new ways, and new partners, to help us enhance science education.