Astronomy Olympiad Nurture Camp

Astronomy Nurture Camp 2012 was organised by Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education at IISER Mohali during December 10-21, 2012. The camp is meant primarily for students who participate in the astronomy olympiad preparation camps to continue their engagement with astronomy. A total of 19 students participated in this camp, including four students from IISER Mohali. Dr. H. K. Jassal was the covenor of the organising committee. Students were divided into four groups which worked on different Astronomy projects. Each project had a designated mentor/supervisor. The four projects and the project supervisers are listed below:

1. Large Scale Structure of the Universe with Prof. J. S. Bagla.
2. Constraining dark energy using supernova data with Dr. H. K. Jassal.
3. Estimating photometric redshift using machine learning techniques with Dr. Ninan Sajeeth Philip (St. Thomas College, Kozhencheri).
4. Parametric Study of Low-Redshift Galaxies Using SDSS-III with Dr. Sivarani Thirupathi (IIA, Bangalore).

The camp concluded with presentations by all the participants about the projects. Dr. Aniket Sule (HBCSE) and Prof. Mayank Vahia (TIFR) also helped with the conduct of the camp and evaluation of the projects.