NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellows

What: 2009 NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellows Symposium, American Astronomical Society Meeting, Long Beach, CA (AAS Description)
When: Saturday, 3 January 1:00-6:00 PM and Sunday, 4 January 9:00 AM-6:00 PM
Where: Long Beach Convention Center

Fellows and guests at the 2009 AAS meeting in Long Beach.

The NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship (AAPF) program is designed to support promising young scientists who combine their research with education and/or outreach activities. During this two-day weekend session, the NSF fellows will discuss their research and education/outreach activities with invited faculty mentors and any AAS members who wish to attend. The goals are to learn from each other's experiences, to listen to suggestions from the audience, and to foster new collaborations. The session will also feature informal discussion panels on topics of interest to current fellows.

All members of the astronomical community are welcome and encouraged to attend.
This includes in particular graduate students who might be considering applying for an AAPF this year or in the future, as well as any other scientists or educators who'd like to stop by and learn more about Fellows' ongoing activities.

Information for Attendees:

• There will be a conference dinner on Saturday night, with details TBD. (While the meeting itself is open to all interested parties, the conference dinner is limited to Fellows and invited speakers only.)

Program:

Saturday, January 3rd

1:00 Welcoming Remarks - Craig Foltz (NSF)

1:20 Chris Groppi - "An Update on Supercam, a 64 Pixel Imaging Spectrometer for the 870 micron
Atmospheric Window"

1:40 John Johnson - "Pushing the Limits of Ground-Based Transit Photometry"

2:00 Gaspar Bakos - "The Search for Transiting Planets with HATNet"

2:20 Peter Frinchaboy - "Chemistry & Kinematics of the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy"

2:40 Coffee Break

3:00 Discussion Panel 1: Making the Transition from Postdoc to Faculty
Confirmed panelists: Don Smith (AAPF '01, now at Guilford), Jennifer Hoffman (AAPF '03, now at U.
Denver), Doug Leonard (AAPF '04, now at SDSU), Virginia McSwain (AAPF '04, now at Lehigh)

4:00 Rachel Kuzio de Naray - "The Shapes of LSB Galaxy Dark Matter Halos"

4:20 Marcel Agueros - "Rooftop Variables"

4:40 Chris Groppi - "The Steward Observatory Student Radio Telescope"

5:00 Education Research Keynote - Tim Slater (U Wyoming)

6:00 Done

7:00 Banquet Dinner - Utopia Restaurant

Sunday, January 4th

Fun random astronomy fact: The Sunday session, starting at 9 am, will begin almost precisely at perihelion.

9:00 Update from NSF - Eileen Friel (NSF)

9:40 Marcel Agueros - "SDSS Low-Mass White Dwarfs"

10:00 David Lai - "A Unique Metal-poor Star in the Outer Halo of the Milky Way"

10:20 Coffee Break

10:40 Marshall Perrin - "Investigating Protoplanetary Disk Properties and Dust Grain Growth with HST NICMOS"

11:00 Discussion Panel 2: Working in Large Collaborations
Confirmed Panelists: Betsy Barton (TMT), Doug Leonard (High-Z Supernova Search), Andy Howell (Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network), John Johnson (AAPF '07, N2K, California & Carnegie Planet Search), Kim Coble (AAPF '01, Global Telescope Network)

12:00 Lunch

2:00 Astronomy Research Keynote - Lynne Hillenbrand (Caltech)

3:00 John Wisniewski - "Multi-Epoch High Contrast Imaging of Young Circumstellar Disks"

3:20 Bethany Cobb - "Gamma-ray burst follow-up observations and astronomy public outreach through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute"

3:40 Coffee Break

4:00 Jeremiah Murphy - "Simulating Core-Collapse Supernovae: Finding the Necessary Conditions for Successful Explosions"

4:20 Kurtis Williams - "Things That Go Bang in the Night"

4:40 Discussion Panel 3: Exploring Non-Traditional Forms of Outreach
Confirmed Panelists: Don Smith (Guilford), Pamela Gay (New Media chair for 2009 Year of Astronomy), Kelle Cruz (AAPF '04 at American Museum of Natural History), Marcel Agueros (AAPF '06 at Columbia), Kim Coble (AAPF '01 now at Chicago State)

5:40 Closing Remarks - Dana Lehr (NSF)

6:00 Done