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Symposium 2007 (Seattle, WA)

Symposium General Information

General Information

This Symposium takes place Friday & Saturday, January 5-6, concurrent with the AAPT/AAS Joint Winter Meeting in Seattle. The symposium will consist of a keynote talk by Jay Pasachoff, an invited talk on education research by Doug Duncan, contributed talks by AAPFs on their research and education projects, and discussion panels on (1) new directions in undergraduate education in astronomy, (2) teaching the night sky in the modern world, and (3) making the transition from a postdoc to a career position. Prospective fellowship applicants, science educators and other members of the astronomy and astrophysics community are welcome and encouraged to attend. The NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowships provide opportunities for highly qualified investigators within three years of obtaining their PhD to carry out an integrated program of independent research and education. The program is intended to recognize early- career investigators of significant potential and to provide them with experience in research and education that will establish them in positions of distinction and leadership in the community. This is an AAS-sponsored event and AAPT members are invited to attend. For more information, contact Erik Rosolowsky (erosolow/snail/cfa/harvard/edu)

Symposium Schedule

Schedule

The symposium will run from 1 p.m. on January 5th, 2007 until 6 p.m. on January 6th.

Eric Gawiser (Rutgers), Brian Keating (UCSD), Doug Finkbeiner (Harvard), Jennifer Hoffman (Berkeley)

Friday, January 5th, 2007
1:00 Opening Remarks: Wayne van Citters (NSF)
1:15 Keynote Address: Jay Pasachoff (Williams) “Syzygies: Eclipses, Transits, and Occultations”
2:00 Marcel Agueros — “Pre-MAP: A Program to Increase Underrepresented Student Participation in Astronomy”
2:15 Ginny McSwain — “The Comings and Goings of Be Stars in NGC 3766”
2:30 Matt Browning — “Dynamo Action in the Solar Convection Zone and Tachocline”
2:50 Coffee Break
3:15 Katherine Rhode — “Globular Clusters, Galaxy Formation, Dark Matter, & Black Holes”
3:30 Tom Renbarger — “The Cosmic Infrared Background Explorer”
3:45 Chris Groppi — “Updating and recomissioning the Steward Observatory Student Radio Telescope”
4:00 Kurtis Williams — “Finding White Dwarfs via Proper Motions”
4:15 Panel Discussion: Transition from Postdoc to Career Position
panelists: Julianne Dalcanton (U. Washington),
5:30 Informal discussion
7:00 Symposium Dinner (By Invitation)
Saturday, January 6th, 2007
9:00 Results of the NSF Senior Review: Eileen Friel (NSF)
9:45 Peter Frinchaboy — “Determination of the Local Galactic Rotation Curve using High Precision Tracers”
10:00 Coffee Break
10:30 Sukanya Chakrabarti — “Simulating Merging Galaxies: The Infrared View”
10:45 David Rothstein — “Understanding Some Ugly Environments: Accretion Disks Around Black Holes and Websites for Teachers”
11:00 Education AAPF Talk: Doug Duncan (U. Colorado)
11:45 Panel Discussion: New Directions in Undergraduate Education
Confirmed panelists: Doug Duncan (U. Colorado), Gina Brissenden (CAPER), Brian Patten (NSF), Nate McCrady (AAPF)
12:45 Lunch Break
1:45 Jeff Bary — “A Multi-Epoch Study of Near-Infrared Accretion Signatures from T Tauri Stars”
2:00 Kelle Cruz — “A New Population of Young Brown Dwarfs in the Field”
2:15 Chris Groppi — “Supercam, a 64 pixel imaging spectrometer for the 870 micron atmospheric window”
2:30 Tom Renbarger — “A Sounding Rocket for the UCSD COSMOS program”
2:40 Coffee Break
3:15 Nate McCrady — “Probing Super Star Clusters with Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics”
3:30 Hector Arce – “Outflows, Chemistry and Low-Mass Star Formation” and “The Hayden Astrophysics Enrichment and Research Program”
3:45 Marcel Agueros — “Weird Compact Objects from SDSS: Low-Mass White Dwarfs and Isolated Neutron Star”
4:00 Josh Faber — “Better to burn out, than to fade away”
4:15 Panel Discussion: Teaching the Night Sky in the Modern World
Confirmed panelists: Jay Pasachoff (Williams), Alice Enevoldsen (Pac. Sci. Ctr.), Anna Hurst (ASP), Ginny McSwain (AAPF), Burley Packwood (Seattle Astron. Society)
5:30 Concluding Remarks: Dana Lehr (NSF)
7:00 AAS Opening Reception