The College of Engineering will soon be able to deliver the stars, moon and the rest of the Milky Way to classrooms across South Dakota.  With the financial help of Marian Fillbrandt, a 1933 graduate now living in Rapid City, physics professors Drs. Larry Browning and Stephen Schiller will set up a robotic observatory.  Through an Internet link, science teachers across South Dakota will be able to plan lessons around pictures recorded by robotic, high-tech telescopes at SDSU.

    Fillbrandt provided a matching gift to help the SDSU professors secure a grant from the National Science Foundation/Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF/EPSCoR).  The project will include two robotic telescopes.  One will focus on planetary elements, while the other will access a wide field view of things in Deep Space.  The telescopes will be shielded from the weather by a dome that will open for viewing opportunities.  The telescopes will be linked to two cameras to record the images they capture.  A fiber optic connection will enable the images to be sent over the Internet to others.

    To bring the program to elementary and secondary schools, Browning plans to hold summer workshops to teach educators how to use the observatory and plan lessons around the images that can be captured by the telescopes.  The goal is to have telescopes operating later this year.  The telescopes will offer a unique opportunity for studying stars and planets, Browning says.

    "Planets appear very tiny, but with the telescopes, people will be able to actually see the rings on Jupiter or the planet Venus, which goes through phases much like the moon," he adds.  "With the telescopes, students across South Dakota will be able to view far away planets as easily as viewing a bird through a set of binoculars."

    The astronomical observatory would also lend itself to research opportunities at SDSU.  Currently, research work is done through observatories in other states such as California and Texas.

    "The Fillbrandt Observatory will be an incredibly efficient tool to do surveying of star clusters," he says.

    The idea for an observatory was launched a few years ago when Fillbrandt indicated a desire to get involved in a University project.  Her goal was to find a project that would help elementary and secondary science teachers provide students with a good, educational hands-on science study opportunity.  She saw the importance of hands-on science projects as a teacher and administrator at schools in Williamsburg, Virginia; Yokohama, Japan; and San Francisco.  Her late husband, Arthur "Casey" Fillbrandt, made a career with the U.S. Army, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel prior to his retirement.

    "Helping students and science teachers was my goal for the project," Fillbrandt says.  "Science teachers have so many things they can teach, but few things that they and their students can do hands-on."  The Fillbrandts were strong SDSU supporters for many rears and on a variety of projects.  Marian also sponsors a program through the Journalism and Mass Communications Department.  Casey, a 1935 print management graduate, was a printer, newspaper owner, and South Dakota Press Association general manager prior to entering the Army.

    SDSU played an important role in the lives of both alumni.  Fillbrandt says her husband often summed up his loyalty to the University by saying, "I would never be where I am today, if I hadn't had that opportunity there."

    As for advice for others, Fillbrandt offers the following:  "No matter how much money you have, you ought to have a plan for sharing it with others or getting involved in a worthwhile project."

    With assistance from retired educator Fillbrandt and the College of Engineering, South Dakota students will soon have a "gateway to the stars" available to them in their local school.

This article was written by University Relations at South Dakota State University and was published the Spring 1999 STATE Magazine.