PIERRE AUGER OBSERVATORY

Education

and

Outreach

Gregory R. Snow / University of Nebraska

Task Leader for Auger Education, Outreach, Public Relations

DPF Meeting, October 30, 2006

Outline

• Brief Introduction to the Observatory

• Goals of the Education and Outreach Task

• Efforts in Mendoza Province and elsewhere• Public Lectures, Events• Building Open House Celebrations• Visitor Center in Office Building• Eureka Science Museum in Mendoza• Observatory Inauguration and Science Fair• New James Cronin School in Malargüe

• Plans for the Northern Hemisphere site

#S

#S

The Pierre Auger Observatory

Southern Hemisphere:Malargüe

Province of MendozaArgentina

Construction nearing completion

Northern Hemisphere:S.E. Colorado, USA

Planning in progress

1600 detectors, 3000 km2 each site

The Auger Collaboration67 Institutions, 369 Collaborators

Argentina NetherlandsAustralia PolandBolivia* PortugalBrazil Slovenia Czech Republic SpainFrance United Kingdom Germany USAItaly Vietnam*

Mexico

* associate

• True International Partnership

• No country, region or institution dominates

• No country contributes more than 25% to the construction.

Status of Argentina site• 1190 out of 1600 surface detectors installed• 3 out of 4 fluorescence telescope buildings complete and operational• Southern Hemisphere site complete mid-2007• First physics results presented at the ICRC 2005 conference in India, July 2005

Northern Hemisphere site• Planning, proposal preparation in progress• Southeast Colorado chosen as northern site

Setting in Argentina• 6000 people in remote small town Malargüe• Auger collaboration presence quite noticeable• Positive impact desired at many levels• Education/outreach activities organized in a distinct subtask led by G. Snow• Example: tanks carry names provided by local school students

The Pierre Auger Observatory

Goals of the Education/Outreach Task

• Use the Auger Observatory and international collaboration to enhancescience literacy and technology skills in the regions of the Auger sitesand internationally

• Increase public awareness and support for basic research in physics,astrophysics, and all areas of science

• Encourage and support a wide range of education/outreach projectswhich link schools, community groups, and the public with thescience and scientists of the Auger Observatory

• Provide technical and non-technical information on Auger to a wide range of audiences – students, public, government officials, scientific colleagues

• Recruit and encourage the participation of groups underrepresentedin science in Auger education/outreach activities

Outreach papers/posters submitted to 2001 and 2005 ICRCsalong with all the science papers

2005 report last page

Public Lectures in Malargüe

• Nightly science talks given to student and adult groups during collaboration meetings• Thanks to Office of Tourism for hosting

Some nights in Spanish

40 students and teachersin attendance

Hans spoke Spanish

Many collaborators participateHans: WelcomeBeatriz: Physics introIngo: SD statusAlberto: FD statusTere: Results

Tere gotinspired

Some nights in English

68 people in attendance, mostly students of English

Question to Alan: “What do cosmic rays have to do with the origin of the Universe?”

Mars Closest Approach

• August 27, 2003

• Public conference at Malarge Convention Center – 250 people

• Telescope viewing also

Assembly Building Inaugurationand Open House, November 2000

Auger Center Building InaugurationOctober 2001

Visitor Center at Auger Office Building

Visitor Center10 12 m2

Data Acquisition

Seats 60 people

Quarter-size FD mirrorset-up from Karlsruhe

Visitor Center at Auger Office Building

Glass cabinet forlibrary and displays

PC and multimediaprojection

Visitor Center Continued Success

Students from Escuela Gendarme Argentino, Malargüe

29 October 2004

Visitor Center Statistics

TOTAL VISITANTES OBSERVATORIO PIERRE AUGER

AÑO 2001

AÑO 2002

AÑO 2003

AÑO 2004

AÑO 2005

AÑO 2006

21,850 visitors through middle of March 2006

Thanks to Analía Cáceres

Visitor Center Statistics by Province in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES CATAMARCA CHACO CHUBUT

CORDOBA CORRIENTES ENTRE RIOS FORMOSA

JUJUY LA PAMPA LA RIOJA MENDOZA

MISIONES NEUQUÉN RIO NEGRO SALTA

SAN JUAN SAN LUIS SANTA CRUZ SANTA FÉ

SANTIAGO DEL E STERO TIERRA DEL FUEGO TUCUMÁN

Mendoza

Buenos Aires

Vast majority from Argentina

Visitor Center Statistics by Foreign Country

ALEMANIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRIA BELGICA BOLIVIA

BRASIL CANADA CHILE COLOMBIA ESCOCIA

E.E.U.U ESLOVENIA ESPAÑA FRANCIA GRAN BRETAÑA

GUATEMALA HOLANDA HUNGRIA INGLATERRA IRLANDA

ISRAEL ITALIA JAPÓN MEXICO NORUEGA

PUERTO RICO PERU PARAGUAY REP. DOMINICANA REP. CHECA

SUDAFRICA SUIZA TAYLANDA UCRANIA URUGUAY

VENEZUELA VIETNAM

Chile

Germany Brazil

USA

Visitor Center Web Site

News at the Web, and by e-mail

Home page

News postings

Monthly news and events E-mail bulletin

Eureka Science MuseumFormer Los Leones prototype mirrorsdonated to Eureka by Torino group/INFN

Children are fascinated by it!

Eureka Science Museum

Electronics displays PCs, brochures, posters

BeepingGeigercounterdisplay

Eureka Science Museum

History of cosmic ray physicsin Argentina and Auger details

Auger Exhibit Inauguration

• Governor elect of Mendoza Province, Ing. Julio Cobos

• Press coverage

Observatory Inauguration, November 2005

• Major public relations and media event• November 10-11, 2005, in Malargüe• 175 government officials, ambassadors, funding agency representatives• Ribbon cutting ceremony, talks, tours of remote detector sites

• Governor Julio Cobos• Jim Cronin• Country dignitaries

• Tours of detectors• Picnic with traditional dancers

Auger sponsored Science Fair, Nov. 11-12, 2005

• 29 teams from all over the Province of Mendoza• Prizes awarded to top three projects, certificate to all teams• Many thanks to Local Organizing Committee of 4 local teachers Fabian Amaya Miguel Herrera Alicia Piastrelini Roberto Sánchez They invested months of work

• Also: Malargüe municipality (Stands, financial support, some of the prizes, …) Auger local staff members

Auger collaborators served as judgesJosé, Miguel, Beatriz, Rebeca, Carla, and Greg

Award Recipients

1st: Wind tunnel, Mendoza 2nd: Maglev train, Mendoza

3rd: Lake pollution, El NihuilHonorable mention: Malargüe team, calcium sulfate mill

First in a series of such Science Fairs

We saved the banners for future use

Second Science Fair being considered in November 2007

Auger collaborators participatingin Malargüe Day parade

2000

2003

2004

2004

Teaching Methods Course for Malargüe Science Teachers

Grades 1-7; 8-9 November 2004 by R. López

• Teachers developed hands-on experiments in response to questions• Topics included light, reflection, gas pressure, motion, …

CERN’s 50th Anniversary, October 16, 2004

30,000 visitors overall, thousands of visitors to the Auger Observatory display

Naming ceremony

Collaborators mentor student science fair projects

1st graduation festival Nov. 2003

Visits with students

Long standing connection with “James Cronin School ofCommunication, Art, and Design”

New “James Cronin School” in Malargüe

Construction started March 2005

Present school location

• Long effort to build new science school coming to fruition

• Large donation from the Grainger Foundation

• Funds managed by Auger Foundation

• Curriculum input

The James Cronin School in Malargüe

November 2005

6 February 2006

Key hand-over to Mendoza Province

The James Cronin School in Malargüe

March 2006

Beautiful interior

The James Cronin School in Malargüe

March 2006

The first two students

Overseen by Norberto Fazzini

Official inaugurationof school in

November 2006

Northern Auger Site

Southeast Colorado

Denver

• Lamar• Headquarters foreseen at Lamar Community College

Regional Science Fair at Lamar Community College

F. Sarazin and G. Snowmounted an Auger

display with posters,brochures, Geiger

counters, scintillators.oscilloscopes, …

Regional Science Fair at Lamar Community College

J. Harton and F. Sarazintalking about the

northern sitewith Science Fair

visitors

Regional Science Fair at Lamar Community College

Students waitingfor judges

J. Harton addressingassembly before

awards ceremony

Northern Site Outreach

Things we learned from visitors to the Science Fair

• The Auger Observatory is quite well known in SE Colorado

• People are anxious to know more and get involved “Please put a tank on our property!”

• Teachers are interested in Auger outreach initiatives in their schools

• Overall, we judge EARLY and CONTINUING outreach efforts to the communities and schools to be very important to our success in the North

Cosmic Ray Observatory Project (CROP) in Nebraska

We now have the equipment in Lamarfor one detector set-up

Lamar

Upcoming proposal for Phase II of CROP – statewide expansion – can include SE Colorado extension

Conclusions

• The education and public outreach efforts of the Pierre Auger Observatory are having a very positive impact in Argentina

• With hiring of full-time Northern Site Auger Outreach Coordinator (funded by Colorado Community College System -- interviews next week), a focused program to promote the Observatory’s Colorado site and jump-start a comprehensive outreach program will begin shortly