LIGO-G030680-00-W LHO Overview and Outreach Fred Raab PAC15 Meeting December 11, 2003.

LIGO-G030680-00-W

LHO Overview and Outreach

Fred Raab

PAC15 Meeting

December 11, 2003

Raab - LHO Overview and Outreach

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What Is Our Role &How We Do It

• Hanford & Livingston share these issues but I will use Hanford to illustrate issues

• Scope of Observatory Work» Facilities Operation

» Product Pipeline (Detector Data) Operation

» Outreach


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Facilities InfrastructureThe “Easy” Part

• LIGO Hanford Observatory facilities comparable to a moderately-sized “hi-tech” college campus» 10 buildings w/ ~ 100,000 air-conditioned sq ft» ~70,000 sq ft are moderate to high-level clean laboratories» ~475,000 sq ft of total enclosed space » 6 miles of roads, parking spaces for 80 vehicles» 10,000 cu meters of high to ultra-high vacuum systems, 5 miles

long, with > 500 control & measurement points» 90,000 gallons of liquid nitrogen for cryo-pumping» Independent potable water & waste disposal plants with 2.5 miles

of pipeline; fire suppression system (tested!)» 28 electrical transformers, 2 independent electrical distribution

systems, ~100 miles of fiber optic lines


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“Hi-Tech” Infrastructure:Hanford’s Product Pipeline

• Two interferometers (H1, 4 km; H2, 2 km), each involving ~15 suspended optics, ~ 100 control systems + Physics Environment Monitoring

» produces 5 MB/s data stream

• Wide Area Network (WAN) lines through DOE; our routers/security/etc. shared between PNNL and LIGO facilities

• Three large Local Area Networks (LANs)» General Computing (GC) – principally science/engineering analysis on ~50

computers plus WAN interface, security, web hosting, electronic document archiving/reproduction, digital A/V systems

» Control & Data System (CDS) – observatory central nervous system and machine diagnostics

» LIGO Data Analysis System (LDAS) – production real-time data analysis and data shipping of 0.6 Terabyte/day


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Product Pipeline Example: LDAS at Hanford

• 2 Sun Enterprise servers (Sun-Fire 880 & 280R) w/ 3 LINUX servers• 3 onsite user machines for visitors• 13.5 Terabyte Disk Farm + 4 Terabyte IDE RAID system• 140ea, Dual 2.66 GHz Xeon CPU Beowulf Cluster w/ Megapoint

FFT Rating• 136 TB (uncompressed) L700 StorageTek + SUN SAMFS Tape

Library System (Tape robot & 9940B tapes: 4 tapes 24/7 at 30 MB/s)

• Gigabit Ethernet LAN• R/T data-handling & analysis software• Located in Laboratory building (250 m from corner station) to

minimize vibration impacts


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Observatory Staff Responsibilities

• Professional scientific and technical staff participate in LIGO Scientific Collaboration

• Scientific staff» Participate in detailed studies of detector performance» Quality control of interferometer operation and data collection» Operation of on-site Data Analysis System (LDAS)

• Engineering support staff» Participate in installation and commissioning» Maintain operation of installed systems» Provide on-site technical support, in partnership with CIT/MIT staff

• Operations Specialists» Support installation and commissioning activities» Provide operations support for commissioning, science investigations


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Composition of Present Staff at Hanford

• 9 Scientific staff positions filled,1 postdoc open • 9 Engineering and technical support staff

» Facilities maintenance, vacuum, electrical, control and data acquisition software, optics, network and computing

• 10 Operations specialists (mixture of technical skill backgrounds to support installation,maintenance, and control room operation)

• 1 education/outreach coordinator, position open• 1 site administrator

» Campus provides engineering and scientific support, administrative support for contracts, purchasing, travel

• Contract labor utilized to augment staff as required while maintaining flexibility

• Total of 31 resident staff


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Interferometer Staffing During Operation

• 2 operations specialists per hour shift, plus scientific staff

» at least one scientist per shift for initial operation

» Role of scientist is to be “eyes and ears” of scientific community analyzing data – identify unique features of interferometer, environment, configuration, etc

• 24x7 operation during science runs requires ~ minimum 10 operations specialists – assuming normal operation, no training courses, flu epidemics, etc

• Additional staff support of control room needed to make operation robust, ability to handle exceptional conditions, also maintenance and calibration, etc


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Audiences for LIGO Outreach

• Targeted the observatory communities, represented by Local Educator Networks:» Pacific Northwest for Hanford Observatory

– Rural– Low-income pockets and migrant populations– Large Hispanic and Native American populations, traditionally

underserved and underrepresented in science

» State of Louisiana for Livingston Observatory– Rural– Areas of great poverty with “failing” schools– Large black population, traditionally underserved and underrepresented

in science

• Programs and Products to date:– Site tours and exhibits, internships, public lectures, pre-/in-service

programs, internet resources, media relations


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Stakeholders for LIGO Outreach

• Local Educator Networks have been formed to represent community of stakeholders and to help tailor products to customer base

• Stakeholders include:» K-12 teachers and students» College/University faculty and students» General public, families, community organizations» Public institutions, school systems, museums, etc.» Professional scientific and engineering organizations» Business community


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College/University Programs

• Goals» Create a vibrant and intellectually stimulating research environment in which

undergraduate students and faculty can participate» Welcome participation by regional universities in LIGO research program

• Accomplishments» “SURF” – Caltech’s REU program - implemented at LHO and LLO» Summer lecture series on LIGO related topics established for SURFers» SURF-a-rama (> 2 doz. REUs congregate at LHO)» Partnered with Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond to arrange low

cost on-campus dorm housing» In addition to strong participation of LSU, Louisiana Tech University, Loyola

University of New Orleans, Southeastern Louisiana University, Southern University have joined and become active members of LSC

» Salish-Kootenai College (tribal college in MT) active LSC member


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Serving K –12 Students and Teachers

• Goals» Become a regional enrichment resource for formal science education for K-

12 teachers» Inspire young people to achieve in science and engineering

• Accomplishments» Developed tours, visual displays, science lessons, hands on science

exhibits, and fun activities for students visiting LIGO» Sponsored activities involving youth groups – Boy and Girl scouts, science

clubs, etc.» Engaging teachers at regional science teacher meetings, making contact

with school district science curriculum coordinators» Partnered with already established organizations in Louisiana (Audubon

Foundation, Stennis Space Center, LSU, SLU, etc.) to speak and present at regional activities aimed at K-12


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Serving K –12 Students and Teachers (continued)

» Scientist-Student-Teacher program started in 1999, involved ~120 students on projects related to LIGO research in AY2003

» LIGO featured in “The Scientific Method on the Job” video for Middle/High School science; NSF 20-min video in progress

» Distance learning initiative with ESD 123, developed interactive science program for WA K-20 teleconferencing network

» Teacher interns developed exhibit guide, lesson plans, K20 scripts and internet resources during summers

» District-level workshops for science teachers» Teacher internships in summer at LHO and LLO» Web-disseminated classroom resources for science teaching, coupled to

state standards in Louisiana, Oregon and Washington

• Major outreach center at LLO under consideration by NSF


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Scientist, Student, Teacher (SST) At Hanford

• Collaborative research – remote monitoring of seismic sensors and wave-height sensors to determine spectral content of low frequency ground motion (“microseism”)

• Objective: address the Essential Academic Learning Requirement (EALR) on “the nature and methods of scientific inquiry” by involving classes in real scientific research

• With Gladstone High School in Portland, Oregon since 1999

• Last year more than 120 students participated in grades 9-12; presented work to community on annual “Science Night”

First annual “Science Night”at Gladstone High School


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Research Internships for Teachers

• Teachers participate in summer research with interferometer commissioning and development of enrichment materials to use in classroom

• Materials are web based so that they can be shared over the internet.

• See » http://www.ligo-la.caltech.edu/teach.htm

» http://www.ligo-wa.caltech.edu/teachers_corner/lessons.html

• Use LIGO to reinforce classical concepts – wave motion, harmonic motion, Galilean relativity, properties of light, etc.

• Lesson plans tied mandated education standards for local states


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Informal Education

• Observatory tours draw 1000s of visitors/yr both in WA and LA» Einstein, interferometers, astrophysics and the work that we do.

» Audience comes from professional groups, schools, teacher associations, boy and girl scouts, families, bicycle club, Model T club, etc.

» Recent “Mars Madness” night drew 20 telescopes and ~1500 skygazers

• Public talks and LIGO Public Lectures» Annual public lectures bring breaking science to diverse audiences (typical attendance

of several hundred/lecture)

» Rotary/Kiwanis clubs & professional societies

» Adler Planetarium public lecture, as part of “Cosmic Happenings” series

• Cooperative “happenings” w/ other outreach groups» Wheeler book signing at CREHST museum, Richland, WA

» B-Reactor reunion

» Mars Madness with Tri-City Astronomy Club

• LIGO Video (~20 minute) RFP by NSF


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Targeting Underserved Populations near LHO and LLO

• Hispanics and Native Americans are largest groups near LHO that are typically underserved by science education and underrepresented in technical fields

• Salish-Kootenai College (SKC) - near Flathead Lake, Montana – member, LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC); provides detector characterization software, establishing Tier-3 GRID center for LIGO data analysis

• African Americans are largest underserved/underrepresented community near LLO, with larger Hispanic populations in neighboring states

• Southern University of Baton Rouge is historically black college near LLO, member LSC, large in-service program in LA

• University of Texas, Brownsville, member LSC, large Hispanic student body, involved with LLO


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Proposed Outreach Center at LLO

• Unique opportunity for outreach to the African-American community in Louisiana

• Partnership between LIGO, Southern University Baton Rouge, Louisiana Board of Regents and the Exploratorium to provide a center for exhibit-based teaching targeting LIGO-based science

• SUBR will integrate into pre- and in-service teaching programs and will tie to community groups

• Exploratorium will provide expertise/training in exhibits and exhibit-based education

• LA Board of Regents ensures state-wide access from school and ensures dissemination through LASIP and LA “Gear Up” programs

• $5M program over 5 yrs; includes construction


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Vision for Inland Northwest Regional Science Center

• Potential Partners/Resources» Columbia River Exhibition of History, Science & Technology

– Access to non-classified Hanford DOE artifacts– Active K-6, summer & “latchkey” programs in science & environment– Museum at ‘gateway’ to Hanford Works & Nat’l Monument

» Alliance for Science Teaching Through Astronomy– Robot 0.8-m telescope atop Rattlesnake Mt for classroom use via

internet or beamed into LHO for star parties

» B-Reactor Museum Society– World’s 1st production nuclear reactor

» Economic, Community and Tourism Development Agencies– Hungry to develop economic independence from D.O.E.

• Intend to develop formal proposal over next few years

LIGO-G030680-00-W LHO Overview and Outreach Fred Raab PAC15 Meeting December 11, 2003.

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Transcript of LIGO-G030680-00-W LHO Overview and Outreach Fred Raab PAC15 Meeting December 11, 2003.