Telescope time for Maunakea Scholars: Kealakehe High students first awardees of school year

Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope director Doug Simons visited with Kealakehe High School students, teachers and families last month to award winners of the Maunakea Scholars program.

The program selected the first four student observers of the 2017-18 school year. These students are awarded observing time at one of the world’s most powerful telescopes for their scientific research.

The telescope time awarded will facilitate advanced research by the students whose projects were deemed most creative, scientifically promising and technically viable. The students have been at work for months alongside mentors from the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy, analyzing data and preparing professional-style research proposals.

The committee selected the first three winning proposals for observation:

• Shanen Arellano, “Is There a Relationship Between the Metallicity of a Nebula and its Shape and Size?”

• Nathan Weir and Mason Solmonson, “NIR Spectroscopy of Accretion Disks of Different Black Holes.”

• Amanda Schiff, “Composition and Formation of Secluded Starburst Galaxies.”

This first awards announcement is the opening of the Maunakea Scholars awards period, where student projects will be selected from each of the participating schools including Honokaa, Kohala and Waiakea on the Big Island; King Kekaulike on Maui; Molokai High School; and Kalani, Waipahu, Kapolei and Nanakuli on Oahu.

The Maunakea Scholars program was created to bring Hawaii’s aspiring young astronomers into the observatory community, competitively allocating observing time on a world-class telescope to local students. This is the first program of its kind internationally, leveraging the most powerful collection of telescopes in the world for the direct educational advancement of Hawaii’s high school students.