Instructor:
Salman
Hameed
McConnell 410B, Smith College
585-3964
shameed@earth.ast.smith.edu
Office hours by appointment
Teaching
Assistant:
Marina Yoder
jmyoder@email.smith.edu
Textbook:
Rogue Asteroids
and Doomsday
Comets, Duncan Steel
Expectations
and Grading:
Most weeks there will be reading assignments
available either from the class website
http://earth.ast.smith.edu/courses/ast220/
or from your textbook, or from the reserve
desk in the Young Science
Library. Students should be prepared to participate in discussion of
this
material and occasionally to be quizzed on it. Some class projects will
be done with small groups, culminating in a group presentation to the
rest
of the class. One/two 4-6 page papers and three/four 1-2 page papers or
homeworks will be assigned during
the semester to encapsulate or further explore class discussions.
Grade
Distribution:
10%
Reading: class participation
15%
Group Projects/Presentations
35% Exam(25%) + Quiz(10%)
40% Papers/Homework (n = 4-5)
Astronomy and Public Policy: Course Outline
| Wk | Dates | Theme | Topic |
| 1 | Feb 1 |
Science &
Society |
Rationale for Federal Support of Basic Research |
| Mini Cases: NGST and Pluto mission |
|||
| 2 | Feb 9 |
NASA and NSF
Appropriation Process |
|
| Intro to Moon/Mars
Initiative |
|||
| 3 | Feb 16* |
Moon/Mars
Initiative |
Work on group
projects |
| 4 | Feb 23 |
Evaluating the Moon/Mars
Initiative |
|
| human vs robotic, economics, science priorities, legal
issues, space weapons, etc. |
|||
| 5 | Mar 1 |
Astronomy policy | Mini Case: Mauna
Kea |
| & the sacred |
Mini Case:
Tomanowos (the Willamette meteorite) |
||
| 6 | Mar 8 |
Killer Asteroids |
Origin of Solar System |
| Intro to Group
Projects |
|||
| 7 | Mar 15 |
No Class (Spring
Break) |
|
| 8 | Mar 22 |
Group
Presentations I. |
|
| 9 | Mar 29 |
Group Presentation
II. |
|
| Deep Impact |
|||
| 10 | Apr 5 |
Congressional Hearings | |
| Exam |
|||
| 11 | Apr 12 | Astronomy Policy |
Dr. Kevin Marvel (American Astronomical Society) |
| Search for ET life | Overview of the universe; The Drake equation | ||
| 12 |
Apr 19* |
Scientific values for the Drake equation |
|
| 13 |
Apr 26 |
Congressional Hearings |
|
| Quiz |
|||
| 14 |
May 3 |
Thinking about SETI |
|
| Final Summary |