223rd AAS Meeting in Washington, D. C.

Twice a year, the American Astronomical Society holds professional meetings covering a broad range of research and education topics. This January’s meeting was held in Washington, D. C. at the National Harbor. I wouldn’t be surprised if it broke previous attendance records, with almost 3200 people on the official registration list. 

Rachel Somerville giving the Heineman Prize Lecture.
Photo credit: Joson Images/ AAS

CANDELS scientists had a very strong representation at this meeting. Rachel Somerville won the Heineman Prize and gave a lecture entitled, “The Formation of Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes: Insights and Puzzles.” Meanwhile, Jennifer Lotz held a press conference on the release of data from a new ultra-deep, wide-field imaging survey that she is leading known as the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Fields (see the image from their press-release below).  There was also a CANDELS special session which included 4 talks and 10 posters on CANDELS results, as well as 22 other CANDELS-related talks and poster presentations throughout the course of the meeting.

HST Frontier Field Abell 2744.  Image credit: NASA,
ESA, and J. Lotz, M. Mountain, A. Koekemoer, and
the HFF Team (STScI).

People go to the AAS for a variety of reasons. As one of the largest gatherings of astronomers, it is impossible to see every science talk of interest. For this reason, I find AAS meetings are more of a place to have discussions with your colleagues and the larger astronomical community about priorities and goals for the future. Many of these larger, community-oriented discussions take place during “town hall” sessions.  Sometimes difficult decisions need to be made, especially in the current funding climate. At this meeting, astronomers grappled with the likelihood that many of our beloved facilities will either need to find private partners to sustain operations costs, or be shut down in the next couple years. This is because NSF does not have the money to fund them while continuing forward with important projects like the James Webb Space Telescope and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. If you know anyone with a few hundred thousand dollars to spare, you can buy yourself some quality time on top-notch facilities!

Other important discussions include networking with more senior astronomers, especially when you’re on the job hunt. Jon Trump wrote about this aspect of AAS in a previous post.  However, the largest growing demographic at these meetings is young student researchers. This is a great place for them to showcase their work and gain experience talking with people about their research. For me, this was my first AAS meeting where I was on the “other side”, serving as faculty advisor to an undergraduate student who is applying to graduate school this year. As my first thesis student, I encouraged her to come present her results, while I tried my best to introduce her to people doing exciting science as well as folks on various graduate admissions committees. The AAS can be a bit daunting to newcomers, so it’s the advisor’s role to help facilitate discussion and provide a role model for students just starting down this career path.

Neil deGrasse Tyson at the AAS.
Photo credit: Joson Images/ AAS

In addition to science talks, there were a number of sessions on astronomy education research, which is another growing aspect of the AAS community. One session I attended on how to improve student outcomes in Astro 101-style courses, was standing room only. It’s great to see so many professional astronomers care so deeply not just about their personal research, but also about how to improve their approach to teaching science to non-science majors. While this is a significant part of many of our jobs, it may surprise readers to learn that most of us were never trained as teachers. Therefore, these sessions are particularly important for learning how to be effective instructors.

Astronomers also like to have a bit of fun in these meetings. At this meeting there was a special talk by Neil deGrasse Tyson, who was surrounded by hundreds of adoring, geeky fans (a.k.a, professional astronomers) as he talked about how to use twitter to engage the public in science. There was also the infamous AAS “after-party”, which was a bar-hopping extravaganza, complete with astro-themed cocktails and a mechanical bull (although I never did see anyone attempt the bull)!

Space Shuttle Discovery at the National Air and Space
Museum.  Photo credit: E. McGrath

Finally, with the meeting being held in Washington D. C., I took advantage of the opportunity to do some astronomy-themed sightseeing. I visited the National Air and Space Museum hangars located near Dulles airport, where I got to behold the impressive Space Shuttle Discovery, as well as a Mars Pathfinder prototype. The shuttle was even more impressive in person than I could have imagined—definitely worth a visit next time you're in D. C.

Teaching Astronomy at a Liberal Arts School

Colby College, Miller Library
Image credit: E. McGrath

Recently, I was lucky enough to land my dream job — professor of physics and astronomy at one of the nation’s top-tier liberal arts schools. I’d be lying, however, if I said there weren’t quite a few adjustments to make in the transition from postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz to assistant professor at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. This new career is challenging and exciting on several different levels. Many people may not realize that a professor’s life does not just include preparing lectures, holding office hours, and grading papers. There are all sorts of other commitments, including service to the college, guiding undergraduate students through their first research projects, attracting external funding, and carrying out your own robust research program. These are neither optional, nor is it sufficient to be good at any single aspect; in order for the college to succeed as an institution, we hire folks who we think will excel in all of these areas, thereby bringing further prestige and attracting better students to the college.

As a new professor, the biggest challenge so far has proven to be time management — prioritizing and fitting all those various commitments into a manageable schedule. A typical day for me consists of something like the following: four hours of lecture preparation, two hours in class lecturing, two hours of grading or composing exams and homework assignments, two hours meeting with students individually, one hour of committee meetings, and a couple hours devoted to my own research (much of which is done after hours). The astute among you will notice those numbers do not add up to a typical 8-hour workday!

This winter I also sat on a hiring committee for the Mathematics and Statistics Department here at Colby. My job as the “outside” member of the committee was to provide a different perspective on the qualifications of our candidates and decide whether they would be a good “fit” for Colby. Since STEM fields tend to be poorly represented by women and minorities, I was also asked to serve in order to diversify the committee. We reviewed over 250 applications for a single-year sabbatical replacement position. I was amazed at how many outstanding applications we received, and appalled that so many of these highly skilled men and women still did not have permanent positions. It is indeed a tough job market out there!

Other service activities in which faculty are involved include campus-wide committees that address everything from admissions procedures, to curriculum development, to information technology, to promotion and even dismissal hearings. Still other responsibilities include advising students and writing recommendation letters as they apply for jobs and graduate school. As a first-year professor I have been spared many of these tasks while I’m still “learning the ropes,” but I will become more active in these areas over the coming years.

Liberal arts schools like Colby also place a great deal of importance on maintaining an active research program. We are, after all, training the next generation of scientists, which cannot be accomplished in the classroom alone. Maintaining a research program that is not only accessible to students, but also tackles important and exciting questions in your field is imperative. Luckily, it is also one of the most enjoyable aspects of being a scientist, so it is easy to stay motivated.  Since much of the semester is devoted to more traditional teaching and service activities, I take advantage of the breaks to advance my research. This past January, for instance, I traveled to Sesto, Italy to present the results of my research at the Star Formation Over Cosmic Time meeting. And during spring break, I traveled back to UC Santa Cruz to meet with collaborators and discuss science. This summer there are a number of grant proposal deadlines on which I will spend a significant amount of time. Being able to fund your research is another important aspect of life as a professor. You are expected to bring in grant money that will not only pay for things like salary, equipment, travel, and publication costs directly related to your research, but will also support services used by the entire campus community.

NGC 6946, the Fireworks Galaxy.
Image taken by AS 231 students at Colby College.

In the end, what makes it worth all the long hours and hard work is the sheer joy of imparting pieces of knowledge to my many enthusiastic students, and seeing them get excited about science, sometimes for the first time. In my Astrophysics class last fall, for example, I held a number of labs at Colby’s small observatory, where students learned how to collect their own data, process, and analyze it using the tools of professional astronomers. The image of NGC 6946, pictured to the left, is one of the results of these labs. The skills we teach these young students, including critical thinking, experimental design, computational analysis, and technical writing will serve them well no matter where their lives take them after Colby. It is my hope that they will also have some fun along the way.