DSPIRA

DSPIRA (Digital Signal Processing in Radio Astronomy) began as an NSF Research Experiences for Teachers site run by the lab. Partners included the WVU Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology and Green Bank Observatory. Three documented in-person cohorts built working horn radio telescopes in 2017–19. Beginning in 2020, participants concentrated on making the curriculum and collaboration available online.

The pandemic interrupted the in-person summers, but educators still use and update the lessons and telescopes. NSF Award 2511256 supports outreach receiver development through 2028.

Lessons and resources

The activities are free for classrooms, students and telescope builders.

Program history

The original proposal planned three summer cohorts. NSF Award 1611114 ran through 2021, and its final report describes teacher participation and program development across five summers. This page covers the 3 in-person cohorts we have records for, held in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

2017–2019: Three in-person cohorts

Teachers spent six weeks building instruments and observing the Milky Way at WVU and Green Bank. They brought these projects back to their classrooms. These are the three cohorts documented in detail on this site.

2020–2021: The work moved online

The public lessons repository launched in July 2020. During the award's final two years, teachers and staff created an online home. It brought together lectures, labs, setup guides, and technical discussions.

2022–present: Current hardware work

The educator network, lessons and telescope platform continued after the in-person summers. NSF Award 2511256 uses DSPIRA receivers to prototype a lab for high school teachers and students. Its outreach work also develops educational receivers for STEM programs at WVU and Yale.

The summer program

Teachers spent six weeks at WVU and Green Bank.

Build the telescope. Each teacher built a horn antenna and low-noise amplifier from sheet metal and readily available parts. They tested their instruments in WVU's RF lab.
Learn the tools. GNU Radio, Python, and software-defined radio form the open-source toolkit. The lab uses these same tools to commission research instruments.
Observe. The six weeks ended with neutral-hydrogen mapping at Green Bank. Teachers used their own horns alongside the observatory's telescopes.
Take it back to class. Each cohort turned its experience into lessons and classroom exercises. Teachers continued these projects with their students during the school year.

Cohorts

These rosters list 15 teachers from 8 states filling 21 places, and 4 returned for a second or third summer. NSF's final report covers five summers and more teachers than these rosters list.

2019, 6 teachers

John Makous, NC (returning)
Howard Chun, RI (returning)
Tad Herman, NY (returning)
John Clarke, FL (returning)
Robert Baker, CA
Michael Stover, WV

2018, 6 teachers

John Makous, NC (returning)
Howard Chun, RI (returning)
Alexis Emch, WV
Daniel Bonnette, WV
Tad Herman, NY
John Clarke, FL

Joined by two undergraduate researchers, from WVU and Toronto

2017, 9 teachers

Jamie Avalos, TX
Howard Chun, RI
Denise Gipson, WV
Eric Goff, WV
Wendy Lee, WV
John Makous, NC
Adam Osborne, WV
Shane Price, WV
LaShonda Torbert, MD

Published and presented

Teachers published classroom research, co-authored the program's conference paper and presented their work to other engineers.

Measuring the Speed of Earth Around the Sun Using a Classroom-Built Radio Horn Telescope
T. Herman, The Physics Teacher 60 (2022), 105–109
Using a Radio Telescope for Developing Models in an Introductory Physics Course
J. L. Makous, K. Bandura, The Physics Teacher 59 (2021), 38–40
Digital Signal Processing in Radio Astronomy: An Interdisciplinary Experience
P. Sanghavi, K. Bandura, J. Makous, H. Chun, 2019 IEEE Integrated STEM Education Conference (ISEC)
Open Source Radio Telescopes
J. Makous, GNU Radio Conference 2018, View slides (PDF)

Funding and partners

Investigators: Natalia Schmid and Kevin Bandura
GBO coordinator: Richard Prestage
Partners: WVU Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, WVU Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology, Green Bank Observatory
Original award: NSF Award 1611114, RET Site in Engineering and Computer Science: Digital Signal Processing in Radio Astronomy, $577,815, January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2021
Current hardware: NSF Award 2511256, 2025 to 2028. Its outreach component uses DSPIRA receivers to prototype a lab for high school teachers and students, and it develops educational receivers for STEM programs at WVU and Yale.
Teacher workshop: NSF Award 2426044 funded the 2025 STARS workshop for another group of educators.