S&T Fellow Organizes Optics Outreach Project in Chile
By: Eduardo Bendek (S&T ’08)
During recent decades, Chile has become known among astronomers around the world for its unique natural asset: the pristine, quiet and dark skies of the Atacama Desert. This asset has motivated American and European organizations to build many world-class observatories in Chile, including future plans to construct Extremely Large Telescopes by 2020. This scenario provides a unique opportunity for international collaboration and technology transfer agreements that has the potential to benefit not only Chileans, but global partners as well. Projects can be deployed more easily and efficiently with adequate support from Chile, resulting in cost reduction for investor countries, while Chile receives access to new technology that can create more qualified jobs and help catalyze the development of the economy. Additionally, educational in subjects like optics and engineering can be improved and broadened.
With the long-term goal of helping facilitate the growth of the optics industry in Chile, I decided to pursue doctoral studies in the United States. I applied and was selected to be a Fulbright Science & Technology Fellow so I left my job to pursue a Ph.D. in optical sciences at the University of Arizona’s College of Optical Sciences, which is regarded as one of the world’s best institutions in the field.
Coming back to school after several years of working in the industry was difficult, but my work experience allowed me to see how the knowledge I gained could be applied to benefit my country and the sciences in general. Although I had the clear intention of working toward open and sustainable collaborations between the U.S. and Chile when I applied, I was not sure how to go about it. After two and half years in the program, I had built a network of friends and colleagues and developed credibility with professors and university staff. In May 2010, I was elected as Outreach Officer with the UA’s College of Optical Sciences Student Optics Chapter (SOCk). Through this position, I was able to propose an outreach project and in March 2011, I achieved my goal when three colleagues and I traveled to Chile after organizing an Optical Outreach Abroad program. The program featured a four-day astronomical optics oriented workshop for graduate students, observatory engineers, and local astronomers. It was hosted by my home university, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC). While in Chile, we also performed optics demonstrations for high school students in Santiago. The program sought to support current scientists and engineers as well as to inspire future students in the field of optical sciences. Optical Outreach Abroad was proposed as a long-term initiative to be continued in future years and extended to other countries by other foreign students at Optical Sciences.
It was initially difficult to garner support for the project among my colleagues at UA. However, my position as a SOCk outreach officer was invaluable to the development of the program and, after my initial proposal, SOCk approved a grant of only $500, which represented 10% of our initial budget. After the success of this funding, the program gained more credibility in other circles and was very successful in securing the necessary funding. The support of the dean and several professors was critical for the success of the project, which ended up fully funding four graduate students, instead of the one that was originally proposed, and receiving a budget close to $10,000. Nine sponsors helped to make my vision a reality including the Optical Society of America, the Center for Integrated Access Networks, and other companies and Observatories.
The outreach received excellent evaluations from the workshop attendees and favorable reviews from the high school students and teachers. A PUC post-doc astronomer said, “Great workshop - I am very impressed with the speakers.” An optical engineer from Gemini South observatory reported that it was an “excellent workshop, very well prepared speakers and friendly environment.” But even more rewarding was the case of high school student wondering about the need for advanced techniques like mono-mode fiber optics even without knowing that they existed, after watching our demostrations.
The program was featured on the Chilean Canal 13 news channel, in the El Mercurio Chilean newspaper, and on Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC) webpage. Achieving its primary goals, the outreach has resulted in plans to create a collaboration between PUC and the University of Arizona in the future.
On a personal level, the outcome of project exceeded my expectations. It was an excellent experience despite the challenges of securing outside support and dealing with the administrative work. I was very proud to introduce Chile to my colleagues, who are all from different continents, and was happy to see how surprised they were with the cultural richness, beautiful landscapes, and economic development of my country.
Photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/101970197351402896065/Chile_outreach_2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCNmpldDtiZyPEg&feat=email#
Videos of the project:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7Np4ARXCzA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCQnzULAXB0
Link to the TV news video:
http://www.litoralpress.cl/deposito/videos/3992331.wmv
Eduardo was awarded with honorable mention in the Outstanding Leadership category for the creation and execution of his project and research activities by the Graduate and Professional Student Council’s Achievement Awards: http://gpsc.arizona.edu/gpsa-week/awards
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