PHYS/ASTR Colloquium: "Expanding Education Programs through Lick Observatory and UC Observatories" - Dr. Anne Metevier (Lick Observatory/UCSC)

San Francisco State University

Physics & Astronomy Colloquium Series

Monday, April 13, 2026

SEIC 210, 3:30 PM

Speaker: Dr. Anne Metevier (Lick Observatory/UCSC)

"Expanding Education Programs through Lick Observatory and UC Observatories"

Lick Observatory is home to a suite of historic telescopes and active research telescopes atop Mount Hamilton near San Jose. The University of California Observatories stewards Lick Observatory and is significantly expanding Lick's education programs, particularly at the college level, thanks to a generous grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Goals of this expansion include broadening access to the observatory through impactful educational experiences that provide exposure to research processes and, in some cases, to observatory careers. Lick's college-level programs are run through a new consortium of Bay Area community colleges and Cal State campuses that collaborate with Lick, called the ASTRAL Consortium. Anne Metevier will describe ASTRAL's programs, including ways that students and faculty at San Francisco State can get involved. She will describe the astronomy and education research-based underpinnings for the programs, how the programs have been designed to engage both STEM and non-STEM students, and how professional development training for graduate students and postdocs is woven into the instruction of some of the programs, providing near-peer interactions.

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