The Graduate Teaching Assistant Excellence Award is an LPL initiative which is intended to promote, recognize, and reward exemplary performance among graduate teaching assistants assigned to PTYS undergraduate courses. The award consists of funding intended to be used toward travel and expenses to professional meeting chosen by the recipient. All graduate teaching assistants assigned to PTYS courses are eligible, whether or not their home department is PTYS.

Nicole Kerrison won this year’s Graduate Teaching Assistant Excellence Award for her support of PTYS/ASTR 170A1 Alien Earths, with instructor Dr. Steve Kortenkamp, during the Fall 2023 semester. 

Nicole had a large number of students attend her office hours, which speaks to her willingness and ability to help students with revisions of their assignments but also to her ability to make students feel at ease with visiting a TA for help with the class. The 170A1 section was taught in the Flaundrau Science Center theater (planetarium dome), so Nicole learned how to use the digital planetarium projection software and gave several full-dome presentations to the class related to concepts, including extrasolar planets, asteroids, and moons of giant planets. Nicole became so adept with the full-dome system that she volunteered to give a public planetarium talk for the solar eclipse that occurred on April 8. 

Nicole also played a lead role in facilitating evening telescope observing sessions for the class on UArizona Mall. Thanks to her support, the course offered 18 consecutive nights of observing, with 60 students participating in each session. Nicole also helped to supervise the undergraduate TA/preceptor group involved with this class. Because Nicole herself had been an undergraduate preceptor, she was able to maintain a comfortable and professional atmosphere for the class teaching team.