STScI Hackathon Project

Document version: 202007XX

Team

  • Project Lead, Duy Nguyen: Assoc. Engineer II
  • Secretary, Kornpob Bhirombhakdi: Postdoc
  • Member, Clara Brasseur: Engineer II
  • Member, Jennifer Kotler: Designer II, UX
  • Member, Jesse Doggett: Prin. Engineer
  • Member, Nicholas Earl: Sr. Engineer

Contact

kbhirombhakdi@stsci.edu

Motivation

It is evident systemic racism causes disparities in many sectors including the astronomy community. We, the STScI Hackathon team, would like to break this systematic problem by using our technical expertise to interact with students from communities underrepresented in science at early stages of their educations with the hope that, in the future, there would be more engagement from these same underserved communities in astronomy.

Vision

Creating a more Diverse, Inclusive, and appropriately represented Astronomy Community

Mission

To host hackathon events targeting audiences from underrepresented communities at early stages of their education.

Target Audience


Initially, we will focus on undergraduate students with the hopes of in the future hosting hackathons targeted at high school students. We will aim to engage students who are excited about astronomy but not from a particular technical background. We will welcome students with a background in science, engineering, design, writing, etc...

Goals

  • Inspire participants to be more involved in, and excited about, astronomy
  • Improve participants’ skills and proficiency in various disciplines dependent on the hackathon “theme”
    • We will begin hackathons with tutorials to help introduce students to skills that will be useful for their hackathon project
  • Connect students and their interests with professionals who can help broaden and foster their interests
  • Develop mentor-mentee relationships, such that students may continue their growth outside the hackathon
  • Improve diversity and inclusion as a whole in astronomy


Prerequisites

  • Level of knowledge (e.g., astronomy and mathematics) and technical skill (e.g., programming) would depend on key activities in each event.
  • If virtual, network/technology access
  • Solicit interest from STScI staff of various disciplines to help guide discussions from multiple perspectives


Support Plans

We want to support any person who is interested in participating. We will be careful to not bar access to people who may be lacking various resources. (computer, transportation, internet, etc) We will work to address any blockers that become apparent.

The scope of our first hackathon will have to be smaller and smaller scope to achieve this goal. Contingent on this would be finding a point of contact at our target audience to help coordinate with our target audience

Virtual - 

Webex access

Create a schedule

The goal will be to create a sustainable event that can grow over time. 

Start with a pilot program

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