The LCO Director’s Fund supports our award-winning education and outreach programs, specifically targeted at reaching under-resourced communities, locally and globally. The activities of particular interest to the LCO Director are the Annual Summer Intern Program, our Global Sky Partners flagship education program, and Outreach at our Global Sites. Your donation makes a significant impact on our ability to bring the highest quality STEM opportunities to young people around the world.
Las Cumbres Observatory has been hiring undergraduate summer interns for paid positions for over a decade. Our interns spend their summer working either at our headquarters in Goleta, California, or with our education staff in Cardiff, Wales. Summer projects include software development, mechanical engineering and design, media outreach, and astronomy research covering supernovae, extrasolar planets, near-earth objects, and gravitational microlensing. LCO interns have gone on to successful careers in a variety of STEM fields.
Las Cumbres Observatory operates 25 telescopes at 7 sites of high astronomical quality around the world. Several of these sites engage in local outreach and education programs and are actively involved with the underrepresented student populations in their areas. LCO is working to partner with outreach programs at our sites to bring high-quality STEM outreach to the global community. In particular, our sites at Haleakala in Maui and at Sutherland in South Africa are active in outreach in their local communities
LCO’s flagship education program is the Global Sky Partners. Our partners have access to 1,000+ hours of telescope time annually and direct support from of our education staff. They share results and experiences with each other in monthly webinars. The partners are located around the world and reach more than 10,000 students each year.
| $15,000 | supports two summer undergraduate internships |
|---|---|
| $7,500 | supports one undergraduate internship |
| $5,000 | provides 20 hours of LCO telescope time for a Global Sky Partner |
| $2,500 | provides a professional science conference to one undergraduate |
| $1,500 | provides 6 hours of LCO telescope time for a USA Sky Partner |
| $500 | provides 2 hours of LCO telescope time for a USA Sky Club |
Gifts to these programs entitle the donor to special access to our students and programs. Please contact us for more information.
Questions? Contact Dr. Sandy Seale, Development:
Donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. LCOGT, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit organization.
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