A strong pillar of Faherty’s career objectives is to bring the awe and wonder of the cosmos to the public. Importantly she has set out to work toward ensuring that students from all walks of life and education background feel an invitation to study and explore the wonders of the Universe. The American Museum of Natural History is a unique institution with a strong point of access to the diverse student body of New York City and the tourist attraction appeal for a global general audience. Faherty is an advocate for museum programs as a gateway to STEM education for youths. Below you will find several programs of note that Faherty is a major contributor toward at AMNH. Aside from those listed she can often be found visiting schools, after school programs, presenting at evening programs in an attempt to reach the widest audience possible with the latest and most exciting astronomical stories.

Programs of Note

Planetarium Programs 1

The Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History is one of the premiere locations for viewing visualizations of cutting edge Astrophysical research. In pre-COVID times, once a month the general public is invited to a live immersive tour related to a popular Astronomy topic. Themes have included “The Explosive Universe”, “Our Cosmic Ballet”, “Hubble’s Greatest Hits”, “Secrets of Exoplanets”, and more. Faherty is a regular presenter, pilot, or host to these Astronomy Live programs. Follow the AMNH public calendar for the next in person event.

Masters program for earth science teachers at amnh 2

The American Museum of Natural History offers a Masters degree for aspiring Earth Science teachers. Faherty is a faculty member in the Richard Gilder Graduate School and instructs the Space Systems course which is a core class in this degree. Furthermore residents in this program spend several weeks in the summer in a practicum where they are matched with a member of the AMNH scientific staff for an exciting and immersive research experience. In 2017 Faherty mentored 5 of the MAT residents on a research project diving into ESA’s Gaia catalog of co-moving stars. All of the residents are now teaching in the New York public school system.

The Masters in Art Teaching program at AMNH is fully funded and currently comes with a 30K stipend. If you are interested in teaching Earth Science at in needs schools, then consider applying!

High School Programs at AMNH 3

The American Museum of Natural History offers several experiences for high school students to get involved in scientific research. The NASA Science Research Mentoring Program (SRMP) brings teams of three high school students to one year long projects with graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, or faculty members. Before the year of research, there are after school courses offered to prepare students with the content needed so they can choose between various physical or biological science research choices.

Also offered at AMNH is the Brown Scholars program. This is a multi-year intensive program for high school girls, focused on the intersection of computer science and science. This program is an introduction to programming and is intended for students who have had limited access to coding classes/resources. It is tuition-free thanks to a generous grant from the Helen Gurley Brown Revocable Trust. Each year the museum offers Helen fellowships for postbac women to work directly with an AMNH scientist on a research project as well as teach a cohort of 5-6 girls on a research project of their crafting.

Faherty has supported several SRMP and Brown scholar mentors that in turn have extended the scientific research of the BDNYC research group to include up to 20 high school students in a given year. If you are interested in becoming a Helen fellow, Brown scholar, or SRMP student read more at the Museum’s Learn & Teach website.

Outliers.org Astronomy Course 4

During the summer of 2020 Faherty collaborated on the creation of an online Astronomy course with the company called Outlier.org. Faherty’s contribution to the Astronomy 101 class was 25 lessons involving immersive visual flights using NASA funded open source software and the latest astrophysical datasets. The outlier.org model is to increase access to quality college education at a highly reduced price. The course is available for college credits with rolling enrollments throughout the year.