Almost Two Decades of Student Questions about Space Weather Forecasting and Impacts: Preparing to Respond to the Questions that Graduate Researchers Have About Space Weather Impact.

As the science describing space weather impacts advances, we have to continue to prepare the next generation of researchers to respond to new technological vulnerabilities. Even as they focus on more complex and detailed problems, graduate researchers have fundamental questions about the relevance of their research and how it can be applied to improve space weather preparedness. The NSF funded Boulder Space Weather Summer School is designed for graduate students who are just starting research in space physics. It provides a comprehensive conceptual background to the field, an introduction to space weather impacts, and hands-on experience with space weather models. At the end of the lecture component, prior to lunch each day, the students are invited to submit questions about the content of the lectures. Following lunch, the lecturers provide short, extemporaneous responses to these questions. We have collected over 4000 student questions over the last 15 years. This is an incredible database that can give insight into the fundamental questions that students have. While many of the questions focus on science, many are related to space weather and societal impacts. This presentation will summarize some of the questions we have collected over the years and attempts to categorize them in a way that can be helpful for providing insight into student understanding and learning that can be valuable for graduate instructors and graduate student mentors. The questions highlight space weather concepts and information where we need to improve our communications and education skills. Entire lectures could be built around many of the questions, but the lecturer is challenged to give succinct and accurate answers, as well as to think about how to include some of these ideas in future lectures.

Some example questions include: - [E]lectrons can build up in satellites through deep dielectric charging and discharge potentially harming the satellite. Is there a similar phenomena that can affect satellites via protons? - Which one is more responsible for GPS scintillation - aurora or plasma bubbles? - For 1958 solar storm, why were lights out in Toronto but not in other high latitude cities? - In your personal opinion, do you think that scientists can successfully predict future occurrences of solar flares? - If large storms can occur during weak solar cycles, can they occur during solar minimum?