July, 2004

Would you trade the July heat of the southeastern Washington desert for a week in the mountains of Montana? LHO operator Corey Gray said yes, and delivered a presentation on LIGO science at the Salish Kootenai College Space Camp on July 15, 2004. Nearly 50 students from ages 13 to 18 attended the camp, coming from various schools on the Flathead Reservation in western Montana.

Salish Kootenai College serves the Flathead Reservation, and the camp arose from a three-year NASA grant secured by SKC and Montana State University. The camp is just one of several activities that the grant will support; others include internships for SKC undergraduates, professional development workshops for local middle and high school teachers on space science, and curriculum development in space science at SKC. The grant came from a NASA program, the Minority University and College Education and Research Partnership Initiative in Space Science - 2003 from the agency's Office of Space Science and the Office of Education. Principal Investigator and the grant's author is SKC Professor and LSC member Dr. Tim Olson.

Tim's interest in LIGO and his previous acquaintance with Corey created the opportunity for Corey to describe the fundamentals of gravitational wave detection to the campers. His presentation consisted of a slide show and a discussion, followed by some hands-on time during which the students were able to experiment with oscilloscopes, a microphone and amplifier, a function generator and an interferometer. Corey's activity occurred at the Blue Bay Campground; the students also spent several days on the MSU campus in Bozeman and were able to enjoy some hiking and rafting as part of the camp's agenda.

Corey enjoyed both the students and the beauty of the surroundings. "It was a great camp," he reports. "The SKC and MSU collaborators made it fun for the kids, who were able to learn a lot of space science while having a great time. I'd love to go back next year." You can see more news and photos of the camp here .