Source: IAU announcement
An IAU-OAD funded project providing research opportunities to marginalised students has won a $1.5 million grant from the Simons Foundation to further expand its work. The Cenca Bridge project, which is making scientific research more accessible for students in Central America and the Caribbean, exemplifies how IAU support can help new initiatives to get established, putting them in a position to grow their activities and increase their impact.
Cenca Bridge offers astronomy research opportunities and provides training in transferrable skills to broaden participants’ employment options and support the development of future leaders in the field. The project’s main focus is a remote internship programme that trains students to conduct research with established astronomers from research institutes overseas. Each student is also paired with a mentor, typically a graduate student, who provides additional guidance. Moreover, participants benefit from further training in research skills, computational workshops, data analysis and visualisation, and listening circles facilitated by a psychology expert.
The IAU, through its Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD), funded Cenca Bridge for three years from 2022 to 2024. The project also won the IAU ODE Development prize in 2024. IAU Past President Prof Ewine van Dishoeck, who created the ODE prizes, remarked that she is excited that Cenca Bridge now has the means to reach its full potential in nurturing the considerable talent in the Caribbean.
Ramasamy Venugopal from the IAU OAD said: “We are very pleased with the achievements of the Cenca Bridge project. Not only have they built a research ecosystem from the ground up, they have now garnered the necessary funding to scale their work. It is a perfect example of how the IAU OAD grant is intended to work. Our grants are meant to kickstart innovative, new projects for which very few sources of funding exist these days.”
The grant will support Cenca Bridge in partnership with the US National Radio Astronomy Observatory for a term of five years, enabling it to expand its ongoing research internships and mentorship programme. The project is currently run by a team of young astronomers including Dr. Antonio J Porras, Dr. Gloria Fonseca Alvarez, Yahira Mendoza-Moncada, and Manuel Pichardo-Marcano.
Expressing their gratitude for the IAU’s early support, the team said: “Cenca Bridge is a community action that was born to give students from the Central American and Caribbean region the opportunity to develop and demonstrate their talents beyond any border. This programme has represented an opportunity for students to begin their scientific journey, getting involved in research projects and creating connections outside the region. In 2022 we were awarded an IAU OAD grant, allowing us to provide some financial support for the work of the participating students. The grant also planted in our minds a need to further expand the opportunities we were providing to the students, and increase our efforts towards the goal of building a larger network of opportunities in Central America and the Caribbean. We are very grateful to the IAU who recognised these efforts and awarded us with the IAU Astronomy for Development Prize. The IAU OAD grant was a catalyst to grow as an organisation, pursue new opportunities for support, and at the same time to awaken interest in governments and make them realise that it is worth investing in the development of research in astronomy and astrophysics.”
With the IAU OAD funding, Cenca Bridge doubled the number of students in its internship programme, including the first participants from Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago. It has also increased the number of mentors and improved the quality of its training. Overall, the project has supported more than 100 undergraduate students so far, laying the foundation for a research ecosystem in the region.
“Cenca Bridge is a prime example of how astronomy can inspire people and help make society a better place for all. The IAU is proud of Cenca Bridge’s achievements and is very grateful to the Simons Foundation for this award.” said IAU President Willy Benz.
The grant from the Simons Foundation will enable Cenca Bridge to improve and expand its research and mentoring programmes and develop resources for training and mental health support tailored to the needs of marginalised students.