This week, AAS Nova and Astrobites are attending the American Astronomical Society (AAS) summer meeting in Pasadena, CA, and online.
AAS Nova Editors Kerry Hensley and Susanna Kohler and AAS Media Fellow Haley Wahl will join Astrobites Media Intern Briley Lewis and Astrobiters Sabina Sagynbayeva, Macy Huston, Katya Gozman, Graham Doskoch, Yoni Brande, Pratik Gandhi, Luna Zagorac, Mike Foley, Abby Lee, Isabella Trierweiler, and Sumeet Kulkarni to live-blog the meeting for all those who aren’t attending or can’t make all the sessions they’d like. We plan to cover all of the plenaries and press conferences, so follow along here on aasnova.org or on astrobites.org! You can also follow @astrobites on Twitter for the latest updates.
Where can you find us during the meeting? We’ll be at the Astrobites booth in the Exhibit Hall all week — stop by and say hello! In addition, you can catch Susanna, Haley, Kerry, and Briley at the press conferences all week.
You can also catch us at several sessions throughout the meeting:
Astrobiters Pratik Gandhi and Yoni Brande will be joining the panel “Progress and Failures of Implementing Substantial Change in Astronomy” at 6 pm PT on Monday, 13 June, hosted by the Committee on the Status of Minorities in Astronomy (CSMA) and BlackInAstro, to discuss what astronomy institutions have done well versus should have done better since the world-wide protests and #Strike4BlackLives in Summer 2020.
Wednesday, 15 June, at 9:30 am PT, Astrobites Media Intern Briley Lewis will be giving an Exhibit Hall Theater presentation titled “Astrobites: A Tool for Scientists, Educators, Journalists, Students, and More” — this presentation will give an overview of the different ways Astrobites can help you, whether you’re a teacher, a student, a scientist, a journalist, or just someone interested in space.
In the Wednesday evening poster session (5:30–6:30 pm PT), Astrobites Media Intern Briley Lewis will be available to chat at our poster about Astrobites’ numerous “Beyond” initatives, from our climate change advocacy to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and beyond. Visit us at iPoster 345.09, “Expanding Astrobites to Cover Climate Change, DEI, Astronomy Education, and More.”
For anyone interested in using Astrobites in their classroom, on Thursday from 10:00 to 11:30 am PT in the Sheraton Justine’s Ballroom, we’re hosting a special session titled “Introducing Current Research Into Your Classroom With Astrobites” to introduce educators to Astrobites lesson plans and connect them with other instructors to discuss best practices and different ways to use Astrobites in formal education. In this workshop, we’ll explore how you can use Astrobites to enhance your students’ experience — and if you’ve already used Astrobites in the classroom, we’d love for you to come share your experiences and learn from fellow educators! Whether you’re currently teaching, interested in applying this someday, or just curious what we have to offer, you are welcome to attend!
Lastly, if you’re interested in reading up on some of the keynote speakers before their talks at the meeting, be sure to check out the interviews conducted by Astrobites authors! They’ll be published throughout this week, and they provide a great opportunity to discover more about these prominent astrophysicists and learn about the paths they took to where they are today.
You can read the currently published AAS 240 keynote speaker interviews here. Be sure to check back all week as the remainder are released!