By Nick Cowan, Graduate Student in Astronomy
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| Figure 1: Pre-MAP students at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory in Hanford, WA (photo by Sarah Loebman). |
The traditional approach to undergraduate science education requires several years of difficult — and sometimes boring — course work before you progress from pre-determined laboratory exercises to the cutting-edge research that makes a career in the sciences exciting and rewarding. The Pre-Major in Astronomy Program (Pre-MAP) flips this traditional approach on its head. As a Pre-MAP student, you get involved in research as soon as you arrive at the UW, regardless of your previous math and physics background. Pre-MAP is for new UW students—freshmen, sophomores and new transfer students — who are interested in math and science and who are traditionally underrepresented in astronomy (including but not limited to women, ethnic minorities, and first-generation college students).
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| Figure 2: Pre-MAP students present their research at the Undergraduate Research Symposium (photo by Daryl Haggard). |
Pre-MAP students register for ASTR 192 (the research seminar) as well as ASTR 102 (an introductory astronomy class), both of which are offered in the Autumn quarter. In ASTR 102, you will get an overview of modern astronomy and will perform labs to learn the fundamental concepts in the field. The class is small (no more than 50 students) and fast-paced. The Pre-MAP seminar, ASTR 192, begins with a couple of weeks of skill-building as you are introduced to the computer programs astronomers use to analyze data, as well as how to write some basic programs of your own. You will then be presented with a variety of projects that faculty, staff and graduate students in the department are working on. You choose a project and work with one or two other students and your research mentor for the rest of the quarter, presenting your research to the department at the end of the quarter.
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| Figure 3: A Pre-MAPer learning how to interpret spectra (photo by Sarah Loebman). |
Nearly all Pre-MAP students choose to continue their research after the fall quarter. In addition, we organize — and pay for — field trips to a local astronomy-related site. In past years, Pre-MAP students have visited the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory outside of Victoria, BC; the Very Long Baseline Array radio telescope in Brewster, WA; the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory in Hanford, WA; and the Manastash Ridge Observatory near Ellensburg, WA. As a Pre-MAP student you will also receive one-on-one mentoring and peer support for at least the duration of the academic year.
Interested? Then check out our website and fill out our online information form.
