The Boulder Space Weather Summer School

University Corporation For Atmospheric Res, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

This project will support activities to organize and hold an annual Boulder Space Weather Summer School. The summer school will bring up to thirty students to Boulder, Colorado for two weeks and immerse them in class room teaching covering fundamental science of the Sun-Earth system and the socioeconomic impacts of space weather, with a particular emphasis on modeling and forecasting. Space weather events can adversely impact our nation's economy and national security by degrading satellite-based services such as high frequency (HF) communication, global positioning system (GPS) position and navigation. To monitor space weather, a new generation of workforce is needed that is highly trained in the fundamental physics of the geospace environment and is equally adept at using various numerical models and observational tools. The summer school will train a new generation of solar and space scientists, space weather forecasters, and engineers and operators of system that are impacted by space weather events. This activity will organize the Boulder Space Weather Summer school for three years to train a new generation of solar and space scientists, forecasters, and engineers. The school will enable students to interact with expert lecturers and engage them in interactive learning activities that are designed to promote both conceptual understanding and practical skills relevant to space weather. The school will also develop improved metrics and assessment procedures to better evaluate the School's impact and to better track and promote diversity. The proposed activity also includes outreach activities to engage more students from under-represented demographics in space weather research. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.