Community

A commitment to the people

CFHT’s community legacy in the world of MSE

MSE benefits from CFHT’s 40 years of experience on Maunakea and a support staff deeply rooted in the Hawaii Island community. By hosting numerous outreach events and activities, CFHT actively engages the local Big Island community to share our understanding of the cosmos and to inspire young people to pursue education in fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

MSE will continue CFHT’s outreach goals and methods, strengthening our ties to the broad community, both locally in Hawaii and across the partnership. MSE will maintain the deep connections CFHT has cultivated with the local educational community and workforce development programs. These connections will help local students, parents and educators to understand the scientific and engineering jobs that exist inside an observatory, with the goal of inspiring Hawaii students to remain in the STEM fields. It is the hope of MSE that these students will stay in Hawaii to work in the observatory community and participate in other high tech industries.

At the same time, MSE will offer ample opportunities for students outside of Hawaii to learn about astronomy by facilitating observatory visits, either in person or remotely.
When CFHT staff attend conferences, they make an effort to engage with local students from elementary to graduate level. CFHT offers virtual visits and talks by staff to students and the general public around the world. MSE is committed to expanding these efforts to engage more students and communities within the partnership community. We envisage MSE will host visiting graduate and undergraduate students to work alongside observatory staff on a variety of projects from astronomical research, engineering development to computer science.

In all its endeavours, MSE will remain deeply committed to balancing cultural and environmental considerations, from the design and operation of the observatory itself, in our realization of the new MSE partnership.