Month: May 2010

Last week I got to work and after only 2 days was off to a conference. This time it was the Advances in Theoretical and Observational Cosmology meeting at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD. Beth and I travelled together, although she left after one day and I stayed for two. Overall, I had a good time–the talks kept me engaged despite getting up very early and staying up later than I should have.

I met several people whose papers I’ve cited or read, including James Bullock, Fabio Governato, and Rosemary Wyse. I also met Joe Fowler of Princeton who knows Steve Boughn and Bruce Partridge, both Princeton alums and now professors (or in Bruce’s case professor emeritus) at Haverford. I also chatted with several other folks who gave talks and hung out with several UMD grad students doing physics and/or astronomy. It’s always interesting to hear about the projects grad students are involved in.

The conference had a much broader scope than I had anticipated, which is not at all surprising in hindsight. This meant a lot of the talks, particularly the theoretical ones, went a bit over my head. But in many cases I was able to follow along in a general sense and take notes which I followed up on later. In the end, I learned a lot about the larger context of the work I’m doing, from high redshift theoretical work to the near-field observational cosmology I’m used to.

I don’t have any cool pictures to share, but following in Maya and Oliver’s footsteps, a few highlights:

– There was sushi and shrimp cocktail at the reception the first night!

– I learned that the resolution of the Planck Observatory is 1 lunalapin (a unit of measure they made up). That’s equivalent to the body heat emitted by one rabbit on the moon. Get it?? (Hint: luna=moon, lapin=rabbit)

-I got a ride to the train station from Zackaria Chacko, particle physicist at UMD, after my taxi failed to show. I would’ve missed the train if it hadn’t been for his kindness! He also knows Stephon Alexander, a physics professor at Haverford, and is friends with a Bryn Mawr alum, so we bonded a bit.

I would count this conference as a successful experience. A lot of great science was presented and I had the opportunity to interact with several of the scientists behind it! Now it’s full speed ahead on my own work.

During the first week of final exams Oliver and I had the wonderful opportunity of getting to accompany Beth on her trip to the annual STScI (Space Telescope Science Institute) symposium. This year’s theme was “Stellar Populations in the Cosmological Context.” Here’s a picture of us:

This was both of our first times attending a Large, Real, grown-up science conference. (Oliver went to last years KNAC conference– but that was all undergrads.) We were definitely the only undergraduates there, which was an incredbile privilege as well as a large challenge. Because we are years away from being on the same professional level of most of the attendees, some of the talks were harder to grasp than others. However, the exposure to this type of conference was extremely interesting. By seeing how scientific information is researched, presented, and received, we got a taste of what may be to come in our potential Astronomical careers.

Essentially, the conference was devoted to stellar astronomy and what information we can glean about the universe from studying stars.  Since it was hosted by the Space Telescope Science Institute, the Hubble Space Telescope was responsible for most of the images and data that were presented.  Talks ranged from constraints on stellar initial mass functions to dwarf galaxies and dark matter satellites.  After each talk there was a Q&A session, which was by far our favorite part.  Seeing astronomers debating ideas and theories was incredbily interesting.  A few talks generated some lively discussions, which we didn’t expect initially.

Some Silly highlights:

– Astronaut John Grunsfeld gave a talk called “Hugging Hubble” about his experiences going up to repair the Hubble Space Craft in 2009. The next night, we saw the Hubble 3D IMAX film at the Baltimore Science Center. Maya teared up a little. Good thing we were wearing 3D glasses… Afterwords, Maya and Beth sneaked in to a photo with Mr. Grunsfeld himself! Some real proof exists that we met a real-life Astronaut! (Photo to be posted?)

– Our very own Beth Willman unfortunately got struck with laryngitis almost immediately after getting to Baltimore. We then had to communicate via notepads, sign language, smoke signals, carrier pigeons, etc. (Oliver points out that this wasn’t a “highlight,” per se, but it did have an influence on our trip.)

– A trip to Andy Nelson’s BBQ with Beth’s friend and colleague Jay Strader. Delicious…

Overall, it was a great trip. Not without its challenges, but generally very rewarding and exciting. It was fascinating to see how professional astronomers use the images from Hubble to “make science”– i.e. interpret meaningful results. It was also refreshing to see information that we learn in class and though our research brought to life in a very real and prevelent context.

Tons of thanks to Beth and to Sherman Fairchild Fellowships for allowing this awesome experience!

The end of the academic year might seem like a strange time to begin a blog, but there is usually something interesting happening in Haverford’s astronomy program.  So no time like the present!

One of the best things about astronomy at Haverford is our great students.  During final exam week, I hosted a dinner party at my apartment for my astronomy research students and students in my classes.  Armed with some photos from this festive event, I’m going to open up Astronoblog by celebrating the six seniors that just graduated with a degree in either Astronomy or Astrophysics.

Here I am with my three freshly graduated seniors: Alex Warres, Dylan Hatt, (me), and Gail Gutowski.  I’m pretty sure Alex is going to be a teacher at an astronomy camp this summer.  Dylan is soon heading to Max Planck Institute in Germany with a Fulbright fellowship to study astronomy.  Gail is now at Haverford to write a paper on her thesis work and will then head to UT Austin for a geophysics research position.

Here is Scott Ogden (left) with his advisor Steve Boughn.  Steve is another astronomy professor here.  Unfortunately for us, Steve will be on sabbatical for the next year.  Scott is heading off to earn a master’s degree in applied math at Stonybrook.

Last, but certaintly not least, are Tyler Evans and Nick Vechik.  Missing between them is Bruce Partridge, their research advisor and my esteemed predecessor.  Bruce had just flown in from a meeting in Paris so needed to retire from the party early.  Nick worked with Bruce on both radio astronomy research and on astronomy education.  He might continue some of his work over the summer.  Tyler may also continue working with Bruce over the summer, and will then head to Swinburne University in Australia for a PhD program in astronomy.

After all of these student-advisor photo ops, the students suggested a group shot with Scott Shelley, the physics lab instructor who taught all of them in multiple lab classes:

Congratulations to all six of our seniors for their past accomplishments and bright future prospects!