User talk:Marshall - Revision history

Marshall at 15:13, 25 January 2014

2014-01-25T15:13:27Z

Marshall at 16:06, 24 January 2014

2014-01-24T16:06:24Z

Marshall at 16:05, 24 January 2014

2014-01-24T16:05:25Z

Marshall at 16:04, 24 January 2014

2014-01-24T16:04:17Z

Marshall at 16:02, 24 January 2014

2014-01-24T16:02:32Z

Marshall at 16:01, 24 January 2014

2014-01-24T16:01:00Z

Marshall: /* Robert's 223rd AAS Scavenger Hunt – Jan 2014 */ new section

2014-01-24T15:52:12Z

Robert's 223rd AAS Scavenger Hunt – Jan 2014: new section

Marshall at 18:49, 11 January 2013

2013-01-11T18:49:46Z

Marshall at 15:33, 10 January 2013

2013-01-10T15:33:01Z

Marshall at 15:30, 10 January 2013

2013-01-10T15:30:37Z

@@ Line 78: / Line 78: @@
 Finally, I had the opportunity to attend the NASA town hall on the Kepler Mission led by Steve Howell who is also a member of the NITARP group.  “All people, all science” was his motto hoping to engage the public in Kepler’s extended missions after 4th year of operation.
 == Robert's 223rd AAS Scavenger Hunt – Jan 2014 ==
@@ Line 93: / Line 94: @@
 '''Educational Opportunities:'''
-Wednesday morning I decided to sit down for breakfast.  The hostess sat me right next to my former University of Pittsburgh observational astronomy professor Dr. Michael Wood-Vasey.  What a surprise!  I learned that Michael and his wife just had their first baby.  Mike was sitting and talking to an EPO woman who works on one of his research programs: Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) III.  I was told her position is funded by left over SDSSIII research dollars but she’s concerned because no EPO funds were worked into the SDSSIV proposal.  Regardless, she walked me over to the Sloan booth and sat me down to demo the next rendition of this website: [http://skyserver.sdss3.org/public/en/proj/teach.aspx].  Right now the new webpage is not active but is scheduled to go live in June.  It will be complete with a navigation tool that links SDSS data with GalaxyZoo tools.  I cannot wait to play with this educational web interface.
+Wednesday morning I decided to sit down for breakfast.  The hostess sat me right next to my former University of Pittsburgh observational astronomy professor Dr. Michael Wood-Vasey.  What a surprise!  I learned that Michael and his wife just had their first baby.  Mike was sitting and talking to Kate Meredith who works on one of his research programs: Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) III.  I was told her position is funded by left over SDSSIII research dollars but she’s concerned because no EPO funds were worked into the SDSSIV proposal.  Regardless, she walked me over to the Sloan booth and sat me down to demo the next rendition of this website: [http://skyserver.sdss3.org/public/en/proj/teach.aspx].  Right now the new webpage, Voyages, is not active but is scheduled to go live in June.  It will be complete with a navigation tool that links SDSS data with GalaxyZoo tools.  I cannot wait to play with this educational web interface.
 [[File:tmt.jpg|200px|thumb|right|]]

@@ Line 103: / Line 103: @@
 This year I spend more time walking around and reading posters.  I felt less intimidated to talk to those who spent time in front of their poster as well.  Some related posters to our research project that I visited include 224.19 using class 0/1 protostars to study triggered star formation using Herschel photometry and 345.07 YSOVAR young star variations on timescales of years.  I also took pictures of unique posters I saw, for instance printed power points:
-[[File:GOPR0060.jpg|300px|thumb|right|]]
+[[File:GOPR0060.jpg|300px|thumb|left|]]
 '''The Oral Sessions:'''
@@ Line 111: / Line 111: @@
 I attempted to attend two educational oral sessions: Tuesday’s 224 Astronomy Education Policy and EPO plus Wednesday’s 322 Astronomy Education Research.  I ended up standing outside the rooms because both of these were so heavily attended.  I was pleased to see so many individuals interested in education.  There really is an audience at AAS meetings who have a similar background as myself.
-[[File:UFDGs.jpg|200px|thumb|left|]]
+[[File:UFDGs.jpg|200px|thumb|right|]]
 Something new this year that I heard many other NITARP people notice and discuss were the amateur sessions.  I saw these on the block schedule and made sure to attend as many as I could.  I made it to “Amateur Asteroid Tracking” and “Hunting the Oldest Stars in the Neighborhood.”  These sessions were very different from one another.  The latter was lead by a PhD scientist from the Space Telescope Science Institute who talked about new discoveries from looking at Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies (also referred to as UFDGs) using Hubble.  Such UFDGs are less luminous and less massive than classical dwarf galaxies but have different properties than globular clusters.  This was an interesting talk and on Wednesday I found the related STScI poster.

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:05, 24 January 2014
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	Wednesday morning I decided to sit down for breakfast. The hostess sat me right next to my former University of Pittsburgh observational astronomy professor Dr. Michael Wood-Vasey. What a surprise! I learned that Michael and his wife just had their first baby. Mike was sitting and talking to an EPO woman who works on one of his research programs: Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) III. I was told her position is funded by left over SDSSIII research dollars but she’s concerned because no EPO funds were worked into the SDSSIV proposal. Regardless, she walked me over to the Sloan booth and sat me down to demo the next rendition of this website: [http://skyserver.sdss3.org/public/en/proj/teach.aspx]. Right now the new webpage is not active but is scheduled to go live in June. It will be complete with a navigation tool that links SDSS data with GalaxyZoo tools. I cannot wait to play with this educational web interface.		Wednesday morning I decided to sit down for breakfast. The hostess sat me right next to my former University of Pittsburgh observational astronomy professor Dr. Michael Wood-Vasey. What a surprise! I learned that Michael and his wife just had their first baby. Mike was sitting and talking to an EPO woman who works on one of his research programs: Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) III. I was told her position is funded by left over SDSSIII research dollars but she’s concerned because no EPO funds were worked into the SDSSIV proposal. Regardless, she walked me over to the Sloan booth and sat me down to demo the next rendition of this website: [http://skyserver.sdss3.org/public/en/proj/teach.aspx]. Right now the new webpage is not active but is scheduled to go live in June. It will be complete with a navigation tool that links SDSS data with GalaxyZoo tools. I cannot wait to play with this educational web interface.
		+
		+	[[File:tmt.jpg\|200px\|thumb\|right\|]]

	'''The Exhibit Hall:'''		'''The Exhibit Hall:'''

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:04, 24 January 2014
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	I attempted to attend two educational oral sessions: Tuesday’s 224 Astronomy Education Policy and EPO plus Wednesday’s 322 Astronomy Education Research. I ended up standing outside the rooms because both of these were so heavily attended. I was pleased to see so many individuals interested in education. There really is an audience at AAS meetings who have a similar background as myself.		I attempted to attend two educational oral sessions: Tuesday’s 224 Astronomy Education Policy and EPO plus Wednesday’s 322 Astronomy Education Research. I ended up standing outside the rooms because both of these were so heavily attended. I was pleased to see so many individuals interested in education. There really is an audience at AAS meetings who have a similar background as myself.
		+
		+	[[File:UFDGs.jpg\|200px\|thumb\|left\|]]

	Something new this year that I heard many other NITARP people notice and discuss were the amateur sessions. I saw these on the block schedule and made sure to attend as many as I could. I made it to “Amateur Asteroid Tracking” and “Hunting the Oldest Stars in the Neighborhood.” These sessions were very different from one another. The latter was lead by a PhD scientist from the Space Telescope Science Institute who talked about new discoveries from looking at Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies (also referred to as UFDGs) using Hubble. Such UFDGs are less luminous and less massive than classical dwarf galaxies but have different properties than globular clusters. This was an interesting talk and on Wednesday I found the related STScI poster.		Something new this year that I heard many other NITARP people notice and discuss were the amateur sessions. I saw these on the block schedule and made sure to attend as many as I could. I made it to “Amateur Asteroid Tracking” and “Hunting the Oldest Stars in the Neighborhood.” These sessions were very different from one another. The latter was lead by a PhD scientist from the Space Telescope Science Institute who talked about new discoveries from looking at Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies (also referred to as UFDGs) using Hubble. Such UFDGs are less luminous and less massive than classical dwarf galaxies but have different properties than globular clusters. This was an interesting talk and on Wednesday I found the related STScI poster.

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:02, 24 January 2014
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	This year I spend more time walking around and reading posters. I felt less intimidated to talk to those who spent time in front of their poster as well. Some related posters to our research project that I visited include 224.19 using class 0/1 protostars to study triggered star formation using Herschel photometry and 345.07 YSOVAR young star variations on timescales of years. I also took pictures of unique posters I saw, for instance printed power points:		This year I spend more time walking around and reading posters. I felt less intimidated to talk to those who spent time in front of their poster as well. Some related posters to our research project that I visited include 224.19 using class 0/1 protostars to study triggered star formation using Herschel photometry and 345.07 YSOVAR young star variations on timescales of years. I also took pictures of unique posters I saw, for instance printed power points:
		+
		+	[[File:GOPR0060.jpg\|300px\|thumb\|right\|]]

	'''The Oral Sessions:'''		'''The Oral Sessions:'''

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:01, 24 January 2014
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	== Robert's 223rd AAS Scavenger Hunt – Jan 2014 ==		== Robert's 223rd AAS Scavenger Hunt – Jan 2014 ==
		+
		+	[[File:Aas223logo.png\|300px\|thumb\|right\|]]

	'''Overview:'''		'''Overview:'''

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:52, 24 January 2014
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	Finally, I had the opportunity to attend the NASA town hall on the Kepler Mission led by Steve Howell who is also a member of the NITARP group. “All people, all science” was his motto hoping to engage the public in Kepler’s extended missions after 4th year of operation.		Finally, I had the opportunity to attend the NASA town hall on the Kepler Mission led by Steve Howell who is also a member of the NITARP group. “All people, all science” was his motto hoping to engage the public in Kepler’s extended missions after 4th year of operation.
		+
		+	== Robert's 223rd AAS Scavenger Hunt – Jan 2014 ==
		+
		+	'''Overview:'''
		+
		+	This was my second AAS meeting and honestly it was full of better opportunities than the first given my familiarity. As a veteran I knew how to read the block schedule without becoming overwhelmed. I felt balanced in finding time to stand at both our education and science posters. And my mind was less occupied absorbing the atmosphere so I could focus on talking to new individuals and share ideas. Again, I would like to thank NASA, particularly Dr. Luisa Rebull and the IPAC team at Caltech for their generous support and thirst to conduct public outreach through the NITARP program.
		+
		+	'''NITARP:'''
		+
		+	Though I was not able to catch the end of Sunday’s NITARP orientation session or make the Monday evening forum due to bad weather in Pittsburgh I spent most of my time at the 223rd AAS with NITARP folks, particularly my research team. I was able to discuss future science opportunities with Johh, Mike, Christi, Laura, Wendi, and Luisa. John and Mike passed on very detailed logistics of how they involved students during the past year’s research program, which will help me to consider doing the same in 2014 – keep your fingers crossed I can utilize the best of both their models. Besides rotating team members on a schedule during poster sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday our team had dinner Tuesday and Wednesday evening together where we again talked about continuing our 2013 research project. There may never be another opportunity to get all of us together in person. These gatherings were certainly special.
		+
		+	'''Educational Opportunities:'''
		+
		+	Wednesday morning I decided to sit down for breakfast. The hostess sat me right next to my former University of Pittsburgh observational astronomy professor Dr. Michael Wood-Vasey. What a surprise! I learned that Michael and his wife just had their first baby. Mike was sitting and talking to an EPO woman who works on one of his research programs: Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) III. I was told her position is funded by left over SDSSIII research dollars but she’s concerned because no EPO funds were worked into the SDSSIV proposal. Regardless, she walked me over to the Sloan booth and sat me down to demo the next rendition of this website: [http://skyserver.sdss3.org/public/en/proj/teach.aspx]. Right now the new webpage is not active but is scheduled to go live in June. It will be complete with a navigation tool that links SDSS data with GalaxyZoo tools. I cannot wait to play with this educational web interface.
		+
		+	'''The Exhibit Hall:'''
		+
		+	This year I stopped to talk to different observatories than last. The 30 Meter Telescope (TMT) staff talked to me about their “for certain” Y2022 observatory: [http://www.tmt.org/]. I asked about 3D computer generated models for planetarium shows. They seemed interested and willing to support such ideas.
		+
		+	This year I spend more time walking around and reading posters. I felt less intimidated to talk to those who spent time in front of their poster as well. Some related posters to our research project that I visited include 224.19 using class 0/1 protostars to study triggered star formation using Herschel photometry and 345.07 YSOVAR young star variations on timescales of years. I also took pictures of unique posters I saw, for instance printed power points:
		+
		+	'''The Oral Sessions:'''
		+
		+	I attended less oral session this year than previous but I easily retained more because I knew how to manage my brain activity. On Tuesday I attended 214 Star Formation II chaired by Xavier Koenig who I instantly recognized his name as the astronomer who developed the YSO color cut method our research team learned about and used this past year. I did not make any town hall meetings but I did have a chance to attend two planery sessions that were irrelevant to my field. Session 219 featured the Cannon Award and was titled “Giant Planets in Dusty Disks”. I thought Sarah Dodson-Robinson did not connect with her audience as well as other planery session lecturers I’ve attended. But I did learn a few new science concepts related to finding Jovians around particular kinds of stars: giant nucleation in accretion disks and A type stars having more accretion mass therefore can create more planets than F, G, K, or M stars.
		+
		+	I attempted to attend two educational oral sessions: Tuesday’s 224 Astronomy Education Policy and EPO plus Wednesday’s 322 Astronomy Education Research. I ended up standing outside the rooms because both of these were so heavily attended. I was pleased to see so many individuals interested in education. There really is an audience at AAS meetings who have a similar background as myself.
		+
		+	Something new this year that I heard many other NITARP people notice and discuss were the amateur sessions. I saw these on the block schedule and made sure to attend as many as I could. I made it to “Amateur Asteroid Tracking” and “Hunting the Oldest Stars in the Neighborhood.” These sessions were very different from one another. The latter was lead by a PhD scientist from the Space Telescope Science Institute who talked about new discoveries from looking at Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies (also referred to as UFDGs) using Hubble. Such UFDGs are less luminous and less massive than classical dwarf galaxies but have different properties than globular clusters. This was an interesting talk and on Wednesday I found the related STScI poster.
		+
		+	Asteroid tracking was a very different kind of amateur sessions. Also lead by a PhD, this talk was more about how educators can work with students to actually track "Vermin of the sky". It was not about new discoveries, rather the different methods and information that can be obtained from each: astrometry, which requires follow-up versus photometry, whose method is short, fast, and gives instant satisfaction given plotted light curves. Software programs to accomplish this were even mentioned.
		+
		+	Science concepts concerning these objects were discussed such as properties of a “ruble pile” as opposed to a single rock. Also calculating shape, surface properties, polar orientation and binary nature. Finally the Yarkovsky Effect: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarkovsky_effect]. Before this session was over, attendees were encouraged to form collaborations and publish results. Hmmm, where have I learned this before?

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:49, 11 January 2013
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	'''NITARP:'''		'''NITARP:'''

−	My experience began on Sunday January ~~5th~~ when the NITARP team sat down together at the Long Beach convention center. The incoming 2013 team greeted one another and spent the entire day covering all bases of the program: purpose, evaluations, the year’s milestones and deadlines, what to expect from the program, an overview of the IPAC archives, the AAS conference itself, and how to read a scientific poster. Research teams split up and covered possible projects. My team, Dr. Rebull’s, picked ours based on previous NITARP research that had been accomplished. The thinking is an expansion of scientific discovery may lead to a possible research paper submission. Both 2012 and 2013 NITARP classes reconvened Monday evening for a forum where we discussed all aspects of the program. My research team’s final meeting was Tuesday late afternoon where we began to discuss the qualitative science behind our project: looking for Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) in the Bright Rimmed Cloud (BRC) 38 – located in Cepheus.	+	My experience began on Sunday January 6th when the NITARP team sat down together at the Long Beach convention center. The incoming 2013 team greeted one another and spent the entire day covering all bases of the program: purpose, evaluations, the year’s milestones and deadlines, what to expect from the program, an overview of the IPAC archives, the AAS conference itself, and how to read a scientific poster. Research teams split up and covered possible projects. My team, Dr. Rebull’s, picked ours based on previous NITARP research that had been accomplished. The thinking is an expansion of scientific discovery may lead to a possible research paper submission. Both 2012 and 2013 NITARP classes reconvened Monday evening for a forum where we discussed all aspects of the program. My research team’s final meeting was Tuesday late afternoon where we began to discuss the qualitative science behind our project: looking for Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) in the Bright Rimmed Cloud (BRC) 38 – located in Cepheus.

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:33, 10 January 2013
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	I also attended the Effective Education & Public Outreach (302) session. Adler Planetarium gave a presentation using 3D glasses about stereoscopy for immersive planetarium content. They had conducted a study comparing over 80 different papers about 3D uses as an education tool ([http://twoeyes3d.tumblr.com/]). Jim Manning, from the Night Sky Network, later encouraged a culture of outreach in clubs. Lubowich recapped his Music and Astronomy Under the Stars program which has reached 50,000 people in just 4 years. I’ve received a lot of ideas from this program description. Finally, Globe at Night encouraging research on light pollution using the limiting magnitude charts which Carnegie Science Center ([http://www.carnegiesciencecenter.org/]) has done for the Pittsburgh area already.		I also attended the Effective Education & Public Outreach (302) session. Adler Planetarium gave a presentation using 3D glasses about stereoscopy for immersive planetarium content. They had conducted a study comparing over 80 different papers about 3D uses as an education tool ([http://twoeyes3d.tumblr.com/]). Jim Manning, from the Night Sky Network, later encouraged a culture of outreach in clubs. Lubowich recapped his Music and Astronomy Under the Stars program which has reached 50,000 people in just 4 years. I’ve received a lot of ideas from this program description. Finally, Globe at Night encouraging research on light pollution using the limiting magnitude charts which Carnegie Science Center ([http://www.carnegiesciencecenter.org/]) has done for the Pittsburgh area already.
		+

	[[File:McCarthy.jpg\|200px\|thumb\|right\|Donald McCarthy, PhD]]		[[File:McCarthy.jpg\|200px\|thumb\|right\|Donald McCarthy, PhD]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:30, 10 January 2013
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	'''Educational Opportunities:'''		'''Educational Opportunities:'''

−	I attended several oral EPO sessions throughout the course of my stay in Long Beach. Astronomy Outreach for Non-Traditional Audiences (201) discussed how to bring astronomy directly to people who do not come to star parties. The session was chaired by Donald Lubowich who also did a talk on Music and Astronomy under the stars during a later EPO session. Culture change quoted as, “getting people to jump up and down about astronomy” was a common theme, April 2011 the Month of Astronomy was debriefed, and the concept of astronomy “hang-outs” or virtual star parties were unveiled. This video is awesome: ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agrdjd0nyFo]).	+	I attended several oral EPO sessions throughout the course of my stay in Long Beach. Astronomy Outreach for Non-Traditional Audiences (201) discussed how to bring astronomy directly to people who do not come to science museums or star parties. The session was chaired by Donald Lubowich who also did a talk on Music and Astronomy under the stars during a later EPO session. Culture change quoted as, “getting people to jump up and down about astronomy” was a common theme, April 2011 the Month of Astronomy was debriefed, and the concept of astronomy “hang-outs” or virtual star parties were unveiled. This video is awesome: ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agrdjd0nyFo]).