Final project. Ast 101 final project. Ethnic studies in general

Final project
Ast101 final project
This assignment may be modified slightly, but the due date will not change.
Overview
This final project is a chance for you to bring something of yourself to my class. While I hope you will take some things away from Astronomy 101, I also want you to take the things you’re learning in my class and mix them with the rest of your intellectual life. Or, to put it another way – while you may be learning a new way to look at the world in my course, I want you also to look at astronomy using the skills and methods that you have acquired from your other pursuits.
You need not choose a project related to your major; however, I encourage you to choose a project that connects this course to other skills or knowledge that you have. These projects are sorted by discipline, allowing students with particular interests to find suggested projects in their own fields.
You also do not need to choose a project from this list. These are some ideas that I have; you likely have other ideas. Your ideas are likely just as good as mine. If you want to do something else, please read many of these suggestions to get an idea of the directions you may take. If in doubt, come see me during help session and discuss your project ideas with me.
Regardless of what you choose for your project, it should be executed with intellectual skill. While I encourage you to be creative, your project should involve some skill in whatever discipline it has its roots in. Last year I got some fantastic pieces of art – and some that were made with glitter and glue-sticks. Likewise, I got some fantastic papers – and some plagiarized from the NASA website. Whatever you choose to do, do it well.
Project proposals
If you have an unusual idea that you want to implement, or something that you’re not sure about, please run it by either myself or one of our more experienced TA’s first.
Grading (please read this!)
These projects will be graded out of 10 points, as before. However, there is no hard upper end on the grade; a truly exceptional project may earn as many as 30 points. For those of you asking me for extra credit: this is it. The extra credit on this project may raise your grade as much as a full letter grade, but only in cases of truly brilliant work. (Last year, the highest grade was 30/10; there were two or three 20/10’s.) some truly brilliant students…
Your projects will be graded on the basis of:
creativity and (if appropriate) artistic quality
insight into both astronomical material and any other disciplines involved
depth of thought
rhetorical clarity (but no points will be deducted for purely grammar mistakes)
intellectual effort
The projects are due on 11 December when you take the final exam.
Essays should be at least three pages (1 inch margins/12 point font/space-and-a-half). However, if you have strong ideas, I’m far more interested in the expression of your ideas than in how many pages you use to describe them.
As with any academic paper, please cite your sources if you do research (which you may need to for many topics). Any citation format that allows me to pinpoint the original source is acceptable.
Group work
You may work in groups of no more than three on fine arts-type projects; the idea here is that different people might have different skills that they contribute, but everyone is equally involved in the creative process. If you do so, please write a short summary of each person’s contribution to the effort and submit it along with your project. I anticipate that this will mostly be done by people doing performance projects that require multiple performers, or for mixed media projects (music videos, as in one project students told me about today) that involve different skill sets.
A few project ideas
Literature and the like / text studies
Read Rocket Boys aka October Sky, or watch the movie. Then watch Apollo 13. Both of these texts are quite true to history. What traits do you notice among the scientists and engineers depicted here? How do they solve problems? How do they balance idealism with the detail-oriented technical work that they do?
Watch at least the first two seasons of Battlestar Galactica. Comment on the physics of spaceflight depicted, as well as whether you believe this is a possible future for a technically-advanced civilization.
Read the Heir to the Empire trilogy by Timothy Zahn, three Star Wars novels set a few years after the Battle of Endor. Zahn was a physicist by training, and his writing mixes some pretty clever uses of real-world physics that advance his plot in clever ways with some science-fiction elements. Comment on how his use of real-world physics (the nature of the spying device in Coruscant; the siege of cloaked asteroids) contributes to his storytelling. Alternatively, if you know any other science fiction that has this trait, you may write about it.
Read Contact, by Carl Sagan, or watch the movie. (The book is better, but will be a good bit of reading – but will likely be worth it!) Either:
Comment on Sagan’s views of the nature of science and of the human sense of wonder.
Sagan was an extremely technically-proficient astronomer as well as a writer. How do you feel his background in hard science influenced his science-fiction writing?
Gallons of ink have been spilled on the relative merits of Star Wars and Star Trek. Spill some more. One is space opera; the other attempts to be somewhat “harder” science fiction. What does each have to offer humanity? What did Lucas and Roddenberry set out to achieve? Do you feel that they met their goals?
Star Wars has always been a story about resistance to fascism. However, the “shape” of the fascists has changed quite a bit from the original trilogy to Kylo Ren and the other antagonists in The Last Jedi. (Some people have compared the original Empire to Nazis, and the Last Jedi antagonists to neo-Nazis.) How have Star Wars fascists changed over the years, and do these changes reflect changes in the face of fascism in the real world?
Fine arts
Compose a piece of music inspired by the heavens. You may submit a score (PDF or Lilypond format); however, if possible, submit a recording/MIDI/mp3 or invite me to a performance. Write a paragraph discussing how astronomy inspires the elements in your piece.
Perform the Samuel Barber setting of “Sure on This Shining Night” or another musical work inspired by astronomy. The Barber piece is originally for choir or solo voice and piano; if you choose this, I will arrange it for your instrument and piano if you like, if you don’t have this skill yourself. If you are a pianist, you can learn the piano part and another student – or me! – will perform the other part. A recording is at https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=iGWpGE6abQg.
Write a short work of fiction or a poem of moderate length incorporating something astronomical as a major element. Science fiction, historical fiction, or any other genre is fine. Also write a paragraph or two discussing the connection between your imagery to the technical aspects of astronomy – what aspects of the astronomical world inspired the things in your story?
Suppose there is life on Titan, the moon of Saturn. Titan’s thick atmosphere makes it impossible to see out. Suppose that the Titanians have just discovered powered flight, and that you are the first Titanian to emerge from the atmosphere and see Saturn and the solar system. Create a work of visual art describing what you would see (painting, computer illustration, drawing, or any other medium is fine). Write a short paragraph describing which aspects of your work are realistic depictions of our Solar System and which are impressionistic or involve artistic license. Describe the physics involved. (You’ll of course need to research Titan and Saturn a bit!)
Write a short stage drama or screenplay depicting one of the following. In each case, be as accurate as possible in your depictions of both nature and the culture of the people (astronauts/engineers/astronomers) involved. (If you have other ideas, feel free to adopt them; these are just prompts!)
A life-threatening incident happens on a spacecraft, perhaps a flight to Mars. How do the astronauts and/or ground crew work to save lives?
A few junior scientists working the late shift at a radio telescope have discovered a signal that appears extraterrestrial in origin. How do they react?
Television/radio/film
Use Stellarium and Google Maps (or your knowledge of the local area) to plan a landscape photograph incorporating the night sky as a major element. Then compare your photograph to what Stellarium rendered. (Since no plan survives first contact, you may decide to change your shooting location or time on the fly once you get out to the field. That’s fine.)
Then take a high-quality landscape photograph using the night sky as a major element, showing at least details of the stars and/or the Milky Way. Write a few paragraphs discussing the technical difficulties in getting such a photograph and how you overcame them, both photographically and astronomically. (Your professor is a hobbyist photographer, so you can use technical photographer-language.) Discuss any post-processing you performed. Your picture should be suitable for printing at least 11x14, and your grade will be based on both your writing and the artistic merit and technical quality of your photograph. Submit your photograph as either a print or as a high-resolution digital image (full-resolution JPG or your camera’s RAW format). If you’d like to chat about astrophotography technique and equipment requirements, please come see me! (You’ll need a tripod or a way to prop your camera up.)
Take a timelapse movie of the night sky, demonstrating how the sky moves during a night. Write about how what you see is explained (or not!) by the celestial sphere model. This may be either purely technical or an artistic work incorporating a landscape. Optionally, also discuss the technical aspects of your photography – how did you capture this?
History
Suppose that the Crusades had not happened. How would the development of the laws of planetary motion and mechanics been different? You may presuppose any alternate history of contact between the European and Islamic worlds that you like. Would celestial mechanics have been discovered earlier? Later? Somewhere else? (Keep in mind that the Europeans benefited greatly from both Islamic astronomy and mathematics.)
Suppose that the Cold War had been resolved peacefully in the late 1950’s with either the peaceful downfall of Soviet communism (as happened in the 1980’s) or with peaceful coexistence between the West and the Warsaw Pact. This would remove a major impetus for spaceflight in the 1950’s and 1960’s. How do you think the history of spaceflight would have been different? Comment on the relation between international conflict and the advance of technology. Do you believe this relationship will change in the future?
Suppose that an intelligent race of extraterrestrials visits Earth sometime in the next ten years. (Choose a year.) They have technology roughly comparable to ours, but very long lifespans, allowing them to travel interstellar distances without worry. What has happened on Earth between 2017 and your chosen year? What do the extraterrestrials say in their report back to their homeworld? Focus on both technical/scientific things (how do they describe the living things on Earth and Earth itself?) and on sociological things (what does their report say about humans and their societies?)
Suppose that one of the following events in recent history had gone differently: the resolution of the oil embargo against the US in the 1970’s; the transformation of post-Soviet Russia into a petrostate; the court case Bush v. Gore; the 2016 presidential election. How would this affect humanity’s action (or lack thereof) regarding climate change?
Mathematics
Read some of Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. There is an English public domain translation available here. How does Newton’s writing of mathematics differ from that of modern mathematicians and/or physicists? Has the relative importance of algebra and geometry changed, or the relationship between the two?
Journalism
Suppose that a clear signal from extraterrestrial intelligence is discovered at the Very Large Array radio telescope in New Mexico. The signal is ongoing, is clearly of intelligent origin, but doesn’t say anything other than to signal the presence of extraterrestrial intelligence. It is confirmed by astronomers around the world. You are assigned to direct coverage of the story for the New York Times, CNN, or another major news organization. What do you do? What assignments do you give what reporters, and how do you cover the story? What skills do your reporters need? Who do you interview? You could actually do such an interview, with myself or one of the TA’s (probably Scott) playing the part of the scientist.
Social science
What do you think US space policy should be? (If you are an international student, you may also write about your home country.) How much money should we spend on astronomical research and space exploration, and how should it be spent? (“None at all; we have other problems” is an acceptable answer – do not think that since I’m a physicist I believe my work is the most important use of tax money!) Defend your choice; what fundamental values and what economic realities influence it? What benefits does it offer to America (or your home country) and to the world? Do you think your proposed policy is likely to be implemented?
Religion; philosophy
Read Richard Feynman’s essay “The Relation of Science and Religion” at http://calteches(dot)library(dot)caltech(dot)edu/49/2/Religion.htm . What are your thoughts? Answer the questions Feynman poses at the end. (Background: Feynman was an American physicist and a secular Jew.)
Suppose that life is discovered on another planet. Choose two different religions (Evangelical Christianity, Episcopalianism and its liberal-Protestant cousins, Mormonism, and Catholicism may be treated as different, as may Reform/Conservative/Orthodox/Reconstructionist branches of Judaism). Compare and contrast how these faiths would likely respond to the discovery. Does your response depend on whether that life is unintelligent, comparable to ourselves, or very advanced?
Read Richard Feynman’s essay “The Value of Science” at http://calteches(dot)library(dot)caltech(dot)edu/40/2/Science.htm. Do you believe the scientific mindset he describes to have value to other disciplines? In what way? What are the challenges and pitfalls involved?
Psychology
A Mars mission will require roughly a dozen people to live and work together in tight quarters for several years. What are the psychological challenges in such a situation? What psychological traits will your astronauts require to succeed in this situation, and what steps can you take to ensure their mental health? Suppose that you are a clinical psychologist in charge of ensuring their mental health during the mission. What would you do? How would you prepare?
Sociology
Suppose a habitable but uninhabited planet is discovered in the Centauri system in 2040. The United Nations decides to build a spacecraft which will carry fifty thousand humans, transported in cryogenic suspended animation, to colonize this new world, departing in 2050. You may make any assumptions you want about this planet, but state what they are. With the technology at the time, assume that this trip will take thirty years. You are in charge of choosing which people you choose as colonists, with the goal of maximizing the chances that a sustainable, long-term colony persists on this planet. How do you choose who goes on the spacecraft? Specifically, what professions or skills do you look for? What mix of men and women? Do you choose people from only one culture, or a mixture? Finally, what sort of leadership structure do you put in place for the colonists?
Economics and finance
Discuss the economic challenges and benefits of private spaceflight. How do purely profit-driven enterprises (satellites, for instance) intersect with science- or research-driven spaceflight (the Apollo missions)? Do you foresee a market-driven space program, and what would it look like? Could such a program be funded through traditional avenues (Wall Street / stock sales / venture capitalism), or would it require something new?
Write an essay addressing a few of the following related questions: Can you justify government expenditure on astronomy and/or spaceflight when there are needs at home? Why or why not? What are the opportunity costs and benefits of spaceflight/astronomical research? (Either answer is fine; this is not a rhetorical question.) What should the NASA budget be? Was the discovery of gravitational waves worth $600 million? Should government compel taxpayers to fund science like this?
Public policy / government
Suppose you can pass any laws you like regarding climate change. The year is 2020; you can assume anything you like regarding events from 2016 to 2020. What laws do you pass? What values inspire you to pass those laws? What facts motivate them? (You may write this from the perspective of the United States or another country with which you are familiar. If you are writing about the United States, you may assume anything you like regarding the outcomes of the 2018 and 2020 elections; assume you are the president and that Congress is on your side.)
Education
You are asked to be a guest speaker to a school-age class (pick a grade) in Syracuse for an hour. You can teach them anything; write a lesson. Are you aiming to mostly teach them information, or to inspire them? How do you go about this?
Choose one of our Lecture Tutorials that we have done that you feel could be improved. How do you think it could be improved, and why? Create a revision. As you do so, indicate the learning objectives of each question, and discuss in some detail why you have made the design decisions you have.
Engineering
You are tasked to build a robotic probe to land on and explore Io, the moon of Jupiter. This probe should be designed to discover as much as possible and operate as long as possible. Discuss the design decisions you will need to make in doing this.
Discuss the engineering challenges inherent in designing machines that will go to space. Why is this harder than terrestrial engineering?
Research the work that Margaret Hamilton did as the leader of the group that designed the software on the moon lander. It’s often said that she created the discipline of “software engineering” – that, while there were computer programmers long before her, she elevated software to a true engineering discipline. In what ways was she a pioneer in software engineering?
Management
Interview a member of the LIGO team regarding the management challenges of coordinating such a large team in a high-pressure situation. How is this similar to management challenges in a corporate setting? How is it different?
Read the portion of What Do You Care About What Other People Think? by Richard Feynman that details his investigation into the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. What management changes should have been made at NASA to possibly avert this catastrophe? Are there any unique management challenges specific to to highly technical, life-critical enterprises such as spaceflight?
Watch the film Apollo 13. Comment on the disaster from a management perspective. What decisions – not technical decisions, but management decisions – had to be made in order to get the astronauts home alive?
Gender studies / queer studies
Read Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula Le Guin, or another work of science fiction that envisions an extraterrestrial species with a very different experience of gender or sexuality than our own. Write a paper discussing some of the following:
Do you believe the author is simply being creative by describing beings very different from us, or is she trying to explore the human condition through a description of nonhumans?
Regardless, what lessons does your chosen work contain for us here on Earth?
More generally, how does science fiction allow an exploration of the human condition in ways that “conventional” novels, involving humans on Earth, do not?
Compare and contrast the attitudes of spaceflight programs in the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia toward women, as astronauts and/or as scientists. How have attitudes changed since the beginnings of the Space Race?
Watch the film Hidden Figures, about the experience of three “human computers” working for NASA in the 1960’s. Then research the lives and work of Grace Hopper and Margaret Hamilton, two pioneering women who made advances in computer science. Give your thoughts on their experiences and careers, and how they relate to the experiences of women working in computer science/engineering today.
Ethnic studies in general
Gene Roddenberry’s vision of an ethnically-diverse, cooperative future in Star Trek is an important part of the setting. In Joss Whedon’s Firefly, he presupposes a spacefaring future for humanity in which a mix of American and Chinese cultural practices and language dominate. (Of course, he wrote Firefly for an American audience and with mostly Western actors, so most of the dialogue is in English and – I’m told – the actors do not speak Chinese all that well!) Science-fiction texts that depict a spacefaring future of humanity must answer the question “What happens to race?” Choose at least one of these texts and discuss its answer to this question. Do you believe it depicts a likely future? Is this future one that you would like to see?
Islamic studies
Dune, by Frank Herbert, depicts a desert planet inhabited by a society whose culture shares many traits with Islam. Read this work and comment on Herbert’s treatment of the Fremen as an “Islam-inspired” culture.
Chinese studies and history
In 1054 Chinese astronmers observed a “new star”, extraordinarily bright, which we now recognize as a supernova that left behind the Crab Nebula. Research the original observations of the Chinese astronomers, as well as the technology they used. Compare the model used in China at the time to the Ptolemaic model in use in the West. How was Chinese astronomy different from Western astronomy, and how was it similar? (Obviously, if you wrote a cultural-astronomy paper about Chinese astronomy, you can’t choose this option again!)