10
UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 14 OCTOBER, 2018
RADIO ASTRONOMY & DATA SCIENCE
It all started with a routine sounding email
received
on February 26, 2018 with the subject heading of
“Training and Exchange Opportunity – Caribbean/
USA – astronomy/physics.” This was no routine
email – it originated from the National Science
Foundation (NSF) in the United States, the United
States Government Agency responsible for all science
that is non-medical. They had sought us out in the
Physics Department at The UWI to suggest that
we should apply to the National and International
Non-Traditional Exchange (NINE) Program with the
National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) with
a view to becoming a hub for radio astronomy in the
Caribbean.
The NRAO is like the “NASA” of radio astronomy.
This was no automatic process. It required a rigorous
application process with several criteria and interviews
to be satisfied, including the training of a UWI person
to undergo a rigorous nine-week training programme
at the NRAOheadquarters in Charlottesville, Virginia.
We leaped at the opportunity and were successful in
our application. We were euphoric!
Jason Renwick was selected as the candidate
chosen for training due to his ideal background for
such a programme. He was an engineering student
with programming capabilities and a track record in
astronomy-related endeavours, having been a NASA
intern twice, as well as an IBM intern.
Our successful application involved the Faculty of
Engineering and the Faculty of Science andTechnology
as the drivers of this initiative, together with the
Tuning into radio astronomy
By
Dr ShirinHaque
department of Computer Science and Information
Technology and Physics department.
We are now officially the UWI-NRAO NINE hub
for radio astronomy (Dr Shirin Haque, astronomer in
the Physics Department, appointed as the programme
manager). The hub team members include the deans
of the faculties, Dr Brian Cockburn and Prof. Edwin
Ekwue, heads of department, Dr Davinder Sharma
(Physics), Dr Permanand Mohan (Computing and
Information Technology) and Dr Fasil Muddeen
(Electrical and Computer Engineering). The NRAO
staff working closely with us are Lyndele von Schill
(Director of Diversity & Inclusion), BrianKent (NINE-
VLASS Programme Manager and Scientist) and Anja
Fourie (NINE Programme Manager and SARAO
NINE Hub Lead).
The vision behind this NINE programme comes
fromthe outreach armof NRAOas highlighted on their
website
-
programs/Nine) – “In the US there is also a strong
desire to develop further our human capacity in the
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
(STEM) fields, especially within traditionally under-
represented groups…The program is geared towards
enticing the best and brightest, both nationally and
internationally, into high quality programs designed to
benefit the participant, each partnering location, and
the radio astronomy community as a whole.”
The future of humanity is highly technological and
the developments in this area are moving at breakneck
speed. Radio astronomy is thus a powerful tool to
excite, introduce and develop STEM capabilities in
the Caribbean to prepare the upcoming generation
to help fill the needs of the future in such fields
locally and abroad. We saw the immediate rewards of
engaging in such a programme out of the workshop
on “How to display radio images with Python”,
held at the Faculty of Science and Technology on
September 15, 2018, facilitated by our now NINE-
certified trainer, Jason Renwick. The NRAO issued
certificates to the participants for becoming VLASS-
certified on completion of the workshop. This created
tremendous value for the participants who came with
backgrounds from Physics, Engineering, Aerospace
Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science.
LEFT:
The Green Bank Telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia, USA, is the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope. It was designed and built by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and began observations
in 2000. It is the most accurate, versatile, large dish radio telescope in the world. Its suite of receivers covers 100 MHz to 100 GHz in frequencies, its processors can spot nanosecond timing differences in data, and it
observes under radio-quiet skies. It can be used to do chemistry, physics, radar receiving, and astronomy. UWI graduate Jason Renwick spent time at this site earlier this year during training to help with the new UWI-
NRAO NINE hub for radio astronomy.
RIGHT:
Dr Shirin Haque, astronomer in UWI’s Physics Department, is programme manager of the new UWI-NRAO NINE hub for radio astronomy.
PHOTOS COURTESY DR HAQUE
Continues on
page 11
“Radio astronomy has
been responsible for the
detection of the cosmic
microwave background
radiation regarded as
evidence of the Big Bang
theory – the beautiful fossils
of the infant universe.”
Dr Shirin Haque
