1 / 21

STATUS OF ASTRONOMY EDUCATION IN KENYA

By Paul Baki 1,2 & G. Okeng'o 2 1 Department of Technical & Applied Physics The Kenya Polytechnic University College P.O Box 52428, 00200 Nairobi, Kenya 2 Department of Physics, School of Physical Sciences University of Nairobi P.O Box 30197-00100 Nairobi, Kenya.

major
Download Presentation

STATUS OF ASTRONOMY EDUCATION IN KENYA

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. By Paul Baki1,2 & G. Okeng'o2 1Department of Technical & Applied Physics The Kenya Polytechnic University College P.O Box 52428, 00200 Nairobi, Kenya 2Department of Physics, School of Physical Sciences University of Nairobi P.O Box 30197-00100 Nairobi, Kenya STATUS OF ASTRONOMY EDUCATION IN KENYA SKA Annual Postgraduate Bursary Conference, Stellenbosch University, December 2010

  2. 1. Introduction • There are 7 Public universities in Kenya offering Physics: - University of Nairobi - Kenyatta University - Moi University - Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology - Egerton university - Maseno University - Masinde Muliro University of Science & Technology SKA Annual Postgraduate Bursary Conference, Stellenbosch University, December 2010

  3. 1. Introduction • The University of Nairobi has about 50,000 students. Three of its 7 Campuses & 3 constituent colleges offer Physics: 1. Campuses: - Chiromo Campus – BSc (Physics), BSc (Astronomy & Astrophysics) - Kenya Science Campus – Bed (Science) 2. Constituent colleges: - Kenya Polytechnic University College – Tech & Applied Physics SKA Annual Postgraduate Bursary Conference, Stellenbosch University, December 2010

  4. UoN

  5. 2. Astronomy Staff at UoN (a). Teaching Staff Prof. Paul Baki Dr J. Buers Awuor Mr Geoffrey Okeng'o (SKA) Ms Susan Murabana

  6. 2. Staff Contd... (b) Other Support Staff Mr. Obure Mr. Muthoka Mr. Adero

  7. 3. Other Universities.... Distribution of Galileoscopes: - University of Nairobi - 40 - Maseno University - 20 - Kenyatta University - 20 - Egerton University - 20 - Moi University - 20

  8. 3. Galileoscopes ... Distribution of Galileoscopes: - Masinde Muliro UST - 20 - Jomo Kenyatta UAT - 20 - Kenya Polytechnic UC - 20 - Pwani Univ. College - 10 • Kabarak University - 10 • Armature Astronomers - 51 ...Introducing Astronomy in their Physics programmes! Total - 251

  9. 4. Astronomy Programme at the UoN (a) The Bsc. Astrophysics & Astronomy programme: - 19 Second year students (3 ladies; 3 self sponsored) - 18 First year students ( 1 lady; 2 self sponsored) - Annual Target of ~ 30 per class • We are not badly off in terms of enrolment!

  10. Astronomy students at UoN

  11. Astronomy students at UoN

  12. Lab Session An astronomy practical Lab session at UoN

  13. Astronomy students at UoN An astronomy practical lab session at UoN

  14. 5. Facilities (b) Upcoming National facilities: • Kenya International Radio Observatory:- To be funded by the National Council for Science and Technology- Nodes in Nairobi, Maseno, Moi , & JKUAT Universities. Operate in the frequency range (10-240 MHz)- LOFAR system. A Multi-frequency Interferometric Imaging telescope • Compound Astronomical Low -Cost Low -Frequency Instrument for Spectroscopy and Transportable Observatory (CALLISTO)-

  15. 5. Facilities Contd. CALLISTO - Radio spectrometer – collaboration with Institute of Astronomy, Zurich Switzerland (To be installed). • SCINDA GPS & VHF Systems - forionospheric studies – collaboration with AFRL & BC • MAGnetic Data Acquisition System (MAGDAS)- collaboration with SERC , Japan • SID Monitors – Stanford Univ.Collaboration

  16. SCINDA &SID SYSTEMS

  17. 6. Activities Workshops & Outreach Two workshops so far:- • Launch of IYA 2009, May 2009 -Nairobi (Public talk by P.Baki)- 42 participants • TAD/DAG Regional Astronomy Workshop November 2009 -45 -participants from entire EA (public talk by Prof. Edward Guinan- TAD, Prof. C. McGruder, Prof. Van Groningen) : Ethiopians, 2 Rwandese, 2 Uganda, 2 Tanzania. Resource persons: Kevin, Petri (SA), C. McGruder, Hakeem Oluseyi (USA), Edward Guinan (USA- chair of TAD)

  18. 6. Activities contd... - Public lectures in other universities • Occasional media interviews and request for astronomy articles - Ethnoastronomy surveys

  19. 7. Challenges • No Astronomical Observatory yet • Shortage of staff:- Still coping but will soon get overwhelmed. • Other universities -A few other universities are willing to offer astronomy after receiving Galileoscopes but staff shortage is a limiting factor! • Job opportunities- who knows where?

  20. Acknowledgements SKA South Africa – for invitation & local hospitality Thank you!

More Related