CAREER: Building a Unified Framework for Galactic Star Formation Rates, Citizen Science, and Minority Students in Astronomy

Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, Inc., Pomona CA

Investigators

Abstract

This project plans to build a new calibration and highly detailed map of the present-day star formation rate in our Galaxy, the Milky Way. These maps are needed to understand how stars form in our own Galaxy and also in other unresolved, external galaxies in the universe. The PI will use the global Citizen Science network known as the Milky Way Project (MWP) to map the spatial distribution and brightness of low-density clouds of partially ionized atomic hydrogen gas in the Galaxy, known as H II regions, in order to compile the largest catalog of Galactic H II regions to date. He will also build a network of astronomy research collaboration among at Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State University campuses, and community colleges that target undergraduate students. A student-led public outreach program BUILD: Bring the Universe Into LA Districts, will educate families and friends of under-represented students about astronomy as a science and as a viable career option. This project will use the NSF-funded California-Arizona Minority Partnership for Astronomy Research and Education (CAMPARE) and California Bridge to the PhD (Cal-Bridge) programs, to strengthen STEM research at Cal Poly Pomona, which has a large Hispanic student population. The PI and his team plan to do this work using bolometric and ionizing continuum luminosities of Galactic H II regions, calibrated against star-forming rates measured from direct X-ray and infrared (IR) observations of young population of stars in massive star forming regions. They will also expand and refine the Galactic HII regions catalog using supplementary infrared and radio survey data and distance information to measure luminosities.