Observational Astrophysics Research Through Cross-Institutional Research Partnerships

Undergraduate research in STEM can be a transformative experience, especially for Community College students, many of whom come from under-represented backgrounds. However, undergraduate research at Community Colleges is relatively rare, due in part to their focus on teaching excellence. Research partnerships with four year colleges about exciting and accessible science topics, facilitated by researchers such as postdoctoral fellows, can be a powerful path forward. We describe our program, the Dead Stars Society (DSS), as a successful example of such a research partnership, focused on the topic of observational astronomy, specifically stellar science with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, and X-ray astronomy with Chandra, NICER and NuSTAR.

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Publication Details

Journal
The Physics Teacher
Published
2026-10-29
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0270704
Primary Topic
Science Education and Pedagogy
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Observational Astrophysics Research Through Cross-Institutional Research Partnerships

Edward M. Cackett, Teresa Panurach, Anthony Preston, W. I. Clarkson et al.
The Physics Teacher
Science Education and Pedagogy
article

Observational Astrophysics Research Through Cross-Institutional Research Partnerships

Edward M. Cackett, Teresa Panurach, Anthony Preston, W. I. Clarkson, Linda E. Strubbe, Kristen C. Dage, Rhianna Taub, Hans J. Harff, Amna Khalyleh, Ethan Vinson, Muhammad Ridha Aldhalemi, Zainab Bustani, Mariam Ismail Fawaz, Dominic DeYonker
article en

Abstract

Undergraduate research in STEM can be a transformative experience, especially for Community College students, many of whom come from under-represented backgrounds. However, undergraduate research at Community Colleges is relatively rare, due in part to their focus on teaching excellence. Research partnerships with four year colleges about exciting and accessible science topics, facilitated by researchers such as postdoctoral fellows, can be a powerful path forward. We describe our program, the Dead Stars Society (DSS), as a successful example of such a research partnership, focused on the topic of observational astronomy, specifically stellar science with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, and X-ray astronomy with Chandra, NICER and NuSTAR.

The Physics TeacherVol. 64(8)
Norfolk State University (US), Henry Ford College (US), Wayne State University (US), Curtin University (AU), University of Michigan (US), University of Michigan–Dearborn (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 100%
Science Education and Pedagogy
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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Observational Astrophysics Research Through Cross-Institutional Research Partnerships — Edward M. Cackett, Teresa Panurach, et al. · The Physics Teacher (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS