2010 Symposium (Washington, D.C.)

What: 2010 NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellows Symposium, American Astronomical Society Meeting, Washington, D.C. (AAS Description)
When: Saturday, 2 January 1:00-6:00 PM and Sunday, 3 January 9:00 AM-6:00 PM
Where: Marriott Wardman Park Hotel

NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellows

Fellows and guests at the 2010 AAS meeting in Washington, D.C.

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 at "Firefly" [ see map ] (While the meeting itself is open to all interested parties, the conference dinner is limited to Fellows and invited speakers only.)

Program:

Saturday, Jan 2
1:00 PM Welcoming Remarks - Dana Lehr (NSF)
1:20 PM Stephen Muchovej - "The C-Band All-Sky Survey"
1:35 PM Catherine Espaillat - "Clearing the Planet-forming Regions of Dusty Disks"
1:50 PM Karín Menéndez-Delmestre - "Massive Starburst Galaxies at High redshift: the submm galaxy population"
2:05 PM Marshall Perrin - "The puzzling structure of AB Aurigae's protoplanetary disk; and active learning techniques in classes beyond Astro 101"
2:20 PM Coffee Break
2:40 PM Discussion Panel 1 - "Making the Transition from Advisee to Advisor"
                      Kelle Cruz (AAPF '04, Caltech)
                      Jessica Rosenberg (AAPF '03, George Mason)
                      John Feldmeier (AAPF '03, Youngstown State)
                      Chris Groppi (AAPF '06, Arizona State U)
3:45 PM Bethany Cobb - "GRB 090313 and an Astronomy/Dance Collaboration"
4:00 PM Stella Offner - "Stellar Kinematics of Young Clusters"
4:15 PM Ilya Mandel - "Prospects in Gravitational-Wave Astronomy"
4:30 PM Benjamin Brown - "Simulations of Magnetism in Rapidly Rotating Stars"
4:45 PM Education & Public Outreach Keynote Address - Sidney Wolff (NOAO)
                       "Astronomy Education Research: Why It Matters and How It Helps"
5:45 PM (end of 1st day)
7:00 PM Banquet Dinner (@ Firefly)

Sunday, Jan 3
9:00 AM "Alternative Careers with an Astronomy PhD" - Andy Clegg (NSF)
9:40 AM Makenzie Lystrup - "Infrared planetary aurorae: a probe for magnetospheric/ionospheric physics"
9:55 AM Eric Hallman - "Clusters of Galaxies as Precision Cosmological Probes"
10:10 AM John Wisniewski - "Exoplanets and Disks and E/PO (oh my!)"
10:25 AM Coffee Break
10:45 AM Discussion Panel 2 - "Evaluating the Impact and Success of Outreach Efforts"
                      Stephen Pompea (NOAO)
                      Susana Deustua (STScI/IYA)
                      Jay Pasachoff (Williams College)
                      Phil Plait (author, bad astronomy blog)
11:50 AM (break for lunch)
2:00 PM Research Keynote Address - Alex Filippenko (UC Berkeley)
                      "Evidence from Type Ia Supernovae for an Accelerating Universe and Dark Energy" (abstract)
3:00 PM Nicholas Sterling - "S-Process Enrichments in Planetary Nebulae"
3:15 PM Rachel Kuzio de Naray - "Testing Dark Matter Theories with LSB Galaxies"
3:30 PM Coffee Break
3:50 PM Sarah Hansen - "Intra-cluster Light in SDSS Galaxy Clusters"
4:05 PM Jeremiah Murphy - "A Model for Gravitational Wave Emission from Core-Collapse Supernova Explosions"
4:20 PM Michael McElwain - "Exoplanetary Science with High Contrast Imaging"
4:35 PM Discussion Panel 3 - "The Future of Ground-based and Space-based Observatories"
                      Jonathan Gardner (GSFC/JWST)
                      Andrew Baker (Rutgers/ALMA)
                      David Silva (NOAO)
5:40 PM Closing Remarks - Craig Foltz (NSF)
6:00 PM (end of meeting)