- Arecibo Observatory Contributes to the Exploration of Black Holes Started by this Year’s Nobel Prize Winners in Physics19 Nov, 2020
- UCF Delivers Engineering Options for Arecibo Observatory (AO)16 Nov, 2020
- Management Update (October 12, 2020) by Director Eng. Francisco Cordova13 Oct, 2020
- Summer Student Assists in Development of Newest AO Facility01 Oct, 2020
- STAR Academy: Training the Next Generation of STEM Professionals 29 Sep, 2020
- Management Update (August 11, 2020) by Director Eng. Francisco Cordova29 Sep, 2020
- Management Update (August 28, 2020) by Director Eng. Francisco Cordova29 Sep, 2020
- Arecibo STAR Teachers29 Sep, 2020
- Hunting for the Mysterious Origins of Fast Radio Bursts28 Sep, 2020
- Girls Educating Girls 28 Sep, 2020
- Cassini Data Solves Mystery of Arecibo Radar Signals on Titan28 Sep, 2020
- How to Build an Asteroid11 Sep, 2020
- A Holistic Approach to Understanding Asteroids11 Sep, 2020
- Sharing the Connection: Arecibo’s Planetary Radar & NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission to Bennu10 Sep, 2020
- Analyzing Gravitational Fields Around Small Bodies in Support of Future Spacecraft Missions09 Sep, 2020
- Broken Cable Damages Arecibo Observatory11 Aug, 2020
Transforming the Arecibo Observatory into a Classroom
Byadmin31 March 2020 Atmospheric

Space & Atmospheric | Transforming the Arecibo Observatory into a Classroom |
This past January, the Arecibo Observatory became the classroom for students from the Miami University in Ohio. Dr. Qihou Zhou, professor and chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the university, has held the “Undergraduate Hands-on Experience with Incoherent Scatter Radar” three-week winter term course at the observatory for the past six years.
“Students really love it,” Dr. Zhou shared. The course is designed to give engineering students “a hands-on experience with the technical aspects of radar operation” and to “learn the techniques needed to probe various ionospheric regions”.
Each year, the ~15 students attending the course learn the technical aspects of radar operation, including the design and construction of a radio telescope (radar), understanding the propagation and filtering of radar signals, learning the characteristics of the various ionospheric regions, and understanding the techniques used to probe these regions.
Because of the university’s proximity to Wright-Patterson Airforce Base, many of his past students have gone on to do radar work for the airforce. Some students have gone on to pursue space physics, including Dr. Zhou’s current graduate student. “The general knowledge gained from the course is certainly being used by the students for their careers!”.
Dr. Zhou described the experience for the students as “eye-opening”. In addition to working directly with the telescope, the students have the opportunity to explore the island of Puerto Rico. “The trip is not just about the technical learning; there is a cultural component as well,” Dr. Zhou expressed. “Some students have never traveled outside of the continental United States before, so they get to meet the people and experience the culture of Puerto Rico, which is different from Ohio.”
Dr. Zhou completed his PhD on incoherent scatter radar using AO and worked at the observatory as a staff scientist from 1991 - 2002. He continues to use the telescope for his current research, probing the ionosphere and near-Earth space environment to study space weather events, how the ionosphere may connect with different regions of the atmosphere, and meteor ablation in the upper atmosphere.
“The ionosphere is a big, natural lab!” Dr. Zhou explained. “It is a region of complex fluid, thermal, and electrodynamics”. His research focuses on understanding the physics and chemistry of the Earth’s atmosphere, which also has applications for effects on GPS signals.
“AO can get echos from regions in the atmosphere that no other radars are sensitive enough to get,” Dr. Zhou continued. “We are pushing the envelope of what is possible in ionospheric studies with the Arecibo Observatory.”
“AO can get echos from regions in the atmosphere that no other radars are sensitive enough to get... We are pushing the envelope of what is possible in ionospheric studies with the Arecibo Observatory.” - Dr. Zhou, Professor and Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Ohio University from Miami
Article written by Dr. Tracy Becker - AO Collaborator / SwRI Research Scientist
Contact: tbecker@swri.edu |
Head of the Space & Atmospheric Dept. |
Keywords: arecibo, observatory, Zhou, ohio, miami, Wright, Patterson, incoherent, scatter, radar, computer, engineering, airforce