Astronomy across barriers

Professors Vahe Peroomian (left) and Kenneth Phillips (right) work in non-traditional classrooms to bring astronomy knowledge to students with barriers in the way of their educations. (Credit: USC Physics and Astronomy)

For many, education is an overlooked privilege. 

For example, young women in Afghanistan may face institutional barriers and political dangers when it comes to learning, but make the conscious choice to pursue knowledge as a driving force in perseverance and strength. Similarly, in prison, inmates will sometimes embrace education for enrichment.

While it might be easier to accept, comply and submit to the obstacles that restrain them, this article centers on sets of students who refuse to succumb to these expectations. They fight to learn for the sake of knowledge and the expansion of their worldviews. 

At USC’s Physics and Astronomy Department, Professor Vahe Peroomian and Professor Kenneth Phillips work to bring astronomy past seemingly unbreakable barriers to places where this knowledge would be otherwise inaccessible. 

Astronomy is a unifying science, in the sense that, just by looking up, people from across the world can share in a sense of wonder in humanity’s origins and fate. According to Peroomian and Phillips, this sense of wonder drives their commitment to teaching. 

Astronomy on a Global Scale

At USC, Peroomian teaches three to four courses every semester. He finds teaching to be an art form that requires dedication. By staying up to date on recent advancements, reviewing notes that he’s taught tens of times and reading about the history of the subject to allow for little anecdotes that make the class relatable, he’s tirelessly looking for ways to keep his audience engaged. 

“The more I know about what I'm teaching… the better I connect with different parts of the student population,” said Peroomian in an interview with The Lab Report.  “Learning through stories is a really vivid, easy way to connect.” 

This is exemplified in an educational outreach program that Peroomian is a part of, Viterbi’s iPodia program, a virtual learning initiative that incites global collaboration on college campuses and values diverse perspectives in classroom environments. 

The iPodia program brings together universities around the world. Each class has a lead professor teaching students at many of these universities at the same time. Peroomian is involved in the HerFuture Afghanistan program through iPodia, a non-profit committed to uplifting and bringing awareness to the lives of girls and women in Afghanistan under the rule of Taliban. 

Through this program, Peroomian has taught Cultural Astronomy, an updated course that strives to include the cultural influence of astronomy alongside its rigorous framework to describe our universe to girls and women in Afghanistan. 

“The law says they can't go to school … the school can come to them, right?” said Peroomian. 

Peroomian’s students have faced immense adversity in their learning journey. However, even with spotty internet and poor connection, most of the class logged on to Cultural Astronomy no matter what. 

One of the most important things Peroomian noticed was how his students responded to female role models. This was demonstrated when USC PhD candidate Wendy Crumrine assisted Peroomian in teaching the course. 

“They opened up to her a million times better than me,” he said. Crumrine is still in contact with the students she taught and checks in on their well-being often. 

Peroomian emphasized, “[The course] was a change of perspective that they needed.” 

Since this course, three of the students have enrolled in European universities. 

“That was really fulfilling to be able to reach out to these students that had no other opportunity for learning,” said Peroomian.

Astronomy Beyond Bars

In a similar display of virtue, Phillips, who is also the curator for aerospace science at the California Science Center, is constantly on the lookout for the best way to explain complicated topics to broad audiences. 

Phillips teaches a freshman seminar, The Space Shuttle and Our Place in the Universe that focuses on how our interpretation of the universe has evolved through various scientific discoveries. “My students were always amazed to know the fact that only [around] 100 years ago did we discover the fact that there were other galaxies…That is absolutely stunning,” he said. 

Phillips is one of the few professors involved with Dornsife’s Prison Education Program (PEP), where he teaches Introduction to Astronomy. Over the past few years teaching in this program, he has taught students in Santa Ana’s Women Correctional Facility and in-custody students at a maximum security prison in Addiewell, Scotland. He shared that he views it as “an opportunity to talk with people, intelligent people, [who] just happen to be incarcerated.” 

To bring astronomy to these incarcerated students, Phillips emphasizes the importance of evidence in science and how to think critically in the face of questions. “Help them think about new ways of looking at things,” said Phillips. “Understand how to assess evidence that is presented to them…How we do it, why we do it, and it can be thought-changing as well.” While Phillips has been teaching these courses remotely, he would love to visit his in-custody students if given the chance. 

“At the end of the course, they recognize that they are part of something that they might call sacred. I wouldn't disagree with that …and it gives them real meaning and fulfillment,” said Phillips. “They seem to love the course.”

Undergraduates at USC can sign up to learn alongside incarcerated students through PEP or volunteer for the program. They can also study with students globally, including those from Afghanistan through iPodia. Not only is this intellectually rewarding but also socially—students from different backgrounds can discuss topics of interest with those of other perspectives and histories.

Both Peroomian and Phillips make real impacts on the individual lives of their students through an infectious passion and unwavering love for their areas of study and students. The value of critical thinking is often overlooked, and these professors foster this by bringing education to the doorstep of those who cannot make it to the classroom.