Professor Fran Bagenal of CU-Boulder聮s astrophysical and planetary sciences department has received the President聮s 2000 Faculty Excellence Award for Advancing Teaching and Learning through Technology from the University of Colorado system.
Established in 1998, the prestigious award goes to one faculty member annually from each of the four CU campuses. Winners are honored for their creativity using technology in teaching, their commitment to students, leadership in promoting educational technology and overall contributions to their fields.
An internationally known researcher, Bagenal is an investigator on NASA聮s Deep Space 1 mission, launched in 1998 and featuring miniaturized instruments and a futuristic propulsion system that has been successfully testing a number of new technologies for future NASA ventures. She also was an investigator for NASA聮s Voyager and Galileo missions and an expert on the magnetic fields of giant planets.
Bagenal, who also is associate chair of the APS department, has used her diverse research background to spearhead new initiatives for improving student literacy in science and math through the creative use of technology.
To better capture the interest of students in a large enrollment introduction to astronomy course, for example, she and several colleagues have developed interactive computer programs that are used by hundreds of CU-Boulder students to explore planetary and astrophysical phenomena.
"Professors Fran Bagenal and Dick McCray have put our department in the lead of the university in terms of creating quality Web-based instruction," said APS department Chair Michael Shull.
"This type of innovation could be the wave of the future for bringing astronomy to a wider audience," Shull said. "There are so many pictures and links on the Web, including ground-based and space-based astronomical images and information, that this is an ideal field for Internet-based instruction."
Bagenal also is co-directing a unique, department-wide initiative to redesign large, lecture-based instruction by creating technology-based tools for study, lectures and assessment. This initiative is part of a national program on innovative education funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
The other 2000 winners were Associate Dean for Informatics Diane Skiba from the CU Health Sciences Center, chemistry Professor Gabriela Weaver from CU-Denver and chemistry Professor David Anderson from CU-Colorado Springs.
The Deep Space I spacecraft recently set a record by running it聮s unique ion-propulsion system for more than 200 days as it cruised around the solar system, according to NASA officials. The ion drive emits an eerie blue glow as charged atoms of xenon are pushed from the rear of the engine at about five miles per second.
Although the thrust from the engine is almost imperceptible 聳 it has been likened to the pressure exerted by a single piece of paper in the palm of a person聮s hand 聳 it delivers up to 10 times the thrust per pound of fuel of traditional rocket engines over the long haul.
"This is a check-out mission to test new technology," said Bagenal. "It is the first time an ion-propulsion system has ever been used for deep-space travel to propel a spacecraft out of the sun聮s gravity."
Bagenal is particularly interested in using the spacecraft to analyze the effects of the solar wind knocking atoms off of asteroids and comets in a process known as "sputtering" that may be electrically charging the wayward atoms.
Deep Space 1 is now headed for a rendezvous with Comet Borrelly in September 2001.