YOU can help Pre-MAP in its mission to bring new faces to Astronomy. Here's what you can do:

Make a donation

Every year Pre-MAP strives to make the experience for our students as full as possible. We take them on a field trip so they can see other places astronomers and physcists work - in the past two years we've been to the Dominion Astrophyscial Observatory in Vancouver, British Columbia and the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory in Richland, Washington. This year, we plan to take Cohorts 1-3 to Manastash Ridge Observatory in Ellensburg, Washington. These trips not only allow the students to see different types of research facilities and experience real astronomical observing sessions, they also build community between the different cohorts of Pre-MAP. This sense of community allows the older students to act as mentors for the students who are just starting out at the UW. Below is a photo taken at DAO, showing Cohort 1 sporting their matching sweatshirts, another important part of community building (we see the Pre-MAP students wearing their sweatshirts around the department all the time).

Unfortunately, coming up with funds for these crucial components of Pre-MAP is an ongoing challenge. If you'd like to help support our students by making a donation, go to the Support Astronomy page and select "Astronomy Undergraduate Support Fund" when you make your donation.

Propose a project

If you're a faculty member, postdoc, or graduate student at the University of Washington, you can propose a project that might be of interest to Pre-MAP students. In addition to traditional astronomy, our students may be interested in physics, planetary science, and astrobiology, all of which pose opportunities for collaboration with other departments. If you have a project which you think might be suitable for a group of Pre-MAP students, contact us and we'll talk to you about getting involved with Pre-MAP.

Come to a meeting

The Pre-MAP staff meets every Thursday at 2:30 pm in Physics/Astronomy C341 (conference room). Come by and talk to us! We are especially interested in working with members of other departments who are trying to start their own diversity initiatives.