Awards & Honors
By Diana Mazzella, Photo by M.G. Ellis
possible gas sources could be. His more specific work could pinpoint the existence of the elusive star fuel. But in doing so, Pisano isn’t just working to solve one problem. He’s working to put science in the hands of everyone, even middle school students. Half of the grant’s focus is on the development of a project that will teach local middle school students about the electromagnetic spectrum and have them adopt a galaxy to study through remote access to a small radio telescope in Green Bank and optical telescopes across the world. The electromagnetic spectrum includes radio, infrared, light, and x-ray sources, among others. Schools across the country and the world could later use this curriculum. “Astronomy is a great gateway to getting people interested in STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] fields,” he said. “It’s not that the world needs tons of new astronomers, but it definitely needs people who are scientifically literate. Even if they don’t go into science fields, being able to
understand science is critical for being a good citizen let alone for making contributions to society. “It would be too much to ask one activity to inspire an entire class to pursue STEM careers, but if we can inspire even a few people that would be fantastic,” Pisano said. This project ties in well with that of his colleagues, Maura McLaughlin and Duncan Lorimer. These two physicists run the Pulsar Search Collaboratory, a
sky when he was 6 that led him to his present career. He followed Carl Sagan’s Cosmos TV series from a young age and visited planetariums often. But a trip to Dinosaur National Monument where a telescope enthusiast offered views of the sun and other stars made the difference. “I was pretty much hooked,” Pisano said. “And I was fortunate when I actually started doing it in college. I was like ‘Wow, I actually like not just looking at the stars, but the research is actually kind of fun, too.’” Aptitude and passion have led him to this research and outreach. But the project propels him forward as well. If all goes according to plan, he will observe at the MeerKAT array that is currently under construction in South Africa, projected to be one of the largest and most sensitive telescope systems in the southern hemisphere. And it’s still fun. “Being able to discover something, seeing something that people haven’t seen before is really quite exciting,” he said.
“Being able to discover something, seeing something that people haven’t seen before is really quite exciting.” program that engages high school students across the country in looking for pulsars, the remains of exploded supernovae. “All the educational research out there shows that if you learn science hands-on, first off it’s a better way to learn it; you tend to retain more,” Pisano said. “But also it works better for a more diverse audience.” It should work. It was Pisano’s turn at a telescope pointed at the starry western
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