conferences
drorzel | February 6, 2013This is the third post in which I'm pulling a revise-and-extend job on some things I said at Science Online at a few panels on bloggy stuff, and the one I'm least settled about. Previous posts covered the in how-to-do-outreach session (posted Monday and the blogging long term session (posted yesterday). This one covers the what-to-do-when-people-start-taking-you-seriously session.
I say that this is the one I'm least settled about because what I said in that panel had literally not occurred to me before listening to that discussion. I've been thinking about it off and on since, and am still…
drorzel | February 5, 2013This is the second post in which I'm pulling a revise-and-extend job on some things I said at Science Online at a few panels on bloggy stuff: in the how-to-do-outreach session (posted yesterday, the blogging long term session, and the what-to-do-when-people-start-taking-you-seriously session. In order to get these out in a timely manner, while catching up on all the work I have to do, I'm splitting these up into individual posts, though really they all kind of fit together.
Blogging for the Long Haul
There were two easily misinterpretable things that I said at this one, that deserve a bit of…
drorzel | February 4, 2013I ended up feeling that my most valuable contribution to the Science Online meeting (other than boosting the income of the Marriott's bartenders) was providing experienced commentary and advice from a slightly different angle than a lot of the other participants. A bunch of this got tweeted out by other people in the sessions, but the format (both at the conference and on Twitter) necessarily strips a lot of nuance out of what I was trying to say (and not always saying successfully). so I thought I'd revise and expand on my remarks a little bit. In particular, I want to post expanded versions…
drorzel | February 3, 2013The Sciece Online meeting wrapped up yesterday afternoon, though the associated conversations and socialization carried on late into the night. I got to meet a lot of people I've only previously known as cartoon avatars, and spent a surprising amount of time talking about rugby.
One of the things that stands out about the meeting, and that lots of people raved about, is the "unconference" style, where there aren't formal presentations, but moderated discussions. This wasn't all that surprising to me, because it's essentially identical to the more casual sort of panel at a science fiction…
drorzel | January 31, 2013I thought I had mentioned it on Twitter enough, but as several people were surprised to see me last night, it's probably worth saying more prominently: I'm at the Science Online 2013 conference in Raleigh, NC this week. This is making me tremendously popular with my class, who are taking an exam tonight...
Anyway, if you weren't aware that I was going to be here, now you know. If last night and this morning are any indication, I may not have any voice left by the end of the conference-- the bar was LOUD last night-- but if you're around, say hi.
pharyngula | February 14, 2012It's on! Students here at UMM got together and have organized their very own Midwest Science of Origins Conference, to be held in Morris on 30 March-1 April. As the big name speaker, they've got Neil Shubin to tell us all about Tiktaalik, and some other regional folk to talk about physics, biology, anthropology, and philosophy…and also Chris Stedmaaaaaan (you can tell right away that this isn't a case of me dictating to them what to do — this is entirely student-organized and run). Come on out and learn!
What, you say, you can't come all the way out to itty-bitty Morris on the edge of nowhere…
pharyngula | January 30, 2012Time is whipping by, I can tell — Darwin Day is next week! I'm going to have to whip up a talk for this event real soon, I think: it's Darwin on the Palouse, and I'll be talking at Washington State University in Pullman, WA a week from Thursday. They've paired me up with Dan Dennett that evening…which is daunting, since I know which of us people will be lining up to see. On Friday, it'll be Jen McCreight and Fred Edwords speaking, so even more competition.
It should be a couple of good evenings of diverse and interesting talks, so all you folk in Eastern Washington and Idaho should make the…
drorzel | June 28, 2011That's the title of my slightly insane talk at the DAMOP (Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics of the American Physical Society) conference a couple of weeks ago, summarizing current topics of interest in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics. I'll re-embed the slides at the end of this post, for anyone who missed my earlier discussion.
I put a ton of work into that talk, and had a huge amount of material that I didn't have time to include. I'd hate for that to go to waste, so I'm going to repurpose it for blog content over the next week or so. It'll probably be about a half-…
peconomy | June 24, 2011I am just now recovering from last week's Art of Science Learning conference in San Diego. For something that lasted just one-and-a-half days, there was an almost overwhelming amount of great presentations, great information sharing and exchange, and -- above all -- great people dedicated to moving the idea of the Art of Science Learning forward.
When I first made plans to attend, I did so as an observer. However, soon after the presentations began on the first morning of the conference, I became an active and engaged participant. Each presentation provided me with a deeper understanding of…
drorzel | June 17, 2011Alternate, More-Interesting Post Title: Attack of the Vampire Physicists.
I realized today that the only time I have been outside during daylight hours on this trip to Atlanta was during the brief walk down the platform to the airport entrance. This is only a little unusual for a DAMOP-- the Marriott Marquis is connected to a small mall by an enclosed walkway, so it was possible to leave the hotel and grab lunch in the food court without having to set foot outside. Other than that, I only left the hotel to go to dinner Tuesday and Wednesday, and that was on the late side, and hardly counts.…
drorzel | June 16, 2011One of the odd things about going to conferences is the unpredictable difference between talks and papers. Sometimes, when you go to a talk, you just get an exact repetition of what's in the paper; other times, you get a new angle on it, or some different visual representations that make something that previously seemed dry and abstract really click. And, of course, sometimes you get new hot-off-the-apparatus results that haven't made it into print yet.
Maddeningly, there doesn't seem to be any way to know in advance which of these things you're going to get from the title and abstract. It…
drorzel | June 15, 2011Tuesday at DAMOP was dominated by my talk. Well, in my mind, at least. I suppose people who aren't me saw other interesting things.
OK, fine, I did go to some other sessions. I would link to the abstracts, but the APS web site is having Issues this morning.
In the Prize Session that always opens the meeting, Gerry Gabrielse from Harvard gave a really nice talk about his work on measuring the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron. This is the "g-factor" that I've cited before in calling quantum physics the most precisely tested theory in the history of science. Gabrielse is the guy behind…
drorzel | June 14, 2011That's the title of my talk this morning at DAMOP, where I attempt the slightly insane feat of summarizing a meeting with over 1000 presentations in a single 30-minute talk. This will necessarily involve talking a little bit like the person reading the legal notices at the end of a car commercial, and a few of the guide-to-the-meeting slides will have to flash by pretty quickly. Thus, for the benefit of those who have smartphones and care about my categorization of talks, I have put the slides on SlideShare in advance, and will embed them here:
What's So Interesting About AMO Phyiscs?…
drorzel | June 9, 2011One of the many things I've been occupied with the last few weeks has been arranging a reception at next week's Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics (DAMOP) meeting. I was late in asking about the possibilities for this, so it won't make it to the printed program, which means I need to advertise by word of mouth. So:
What: An informal reception for people attending the DAMOP meeting who are associated with undergraduate institutions (i.e., small colleges, or non-Ph.D. granting universities), or thinking about pursuing a position at an undergraduate institution.
Why: Over the…
drorzel | June 2, 2011This morning's Links Dump included a post from Mad Mike and an entire blog on improving academic posters. For those not in the sciences, one of the traditional means of communicating research results is at a poster session where tens to hundreds of researcher each prepare a poster (usually 3'x5' or thereabouts) about their project, hang them up, then stand by them to answer questions.
Mike and the Better Posters bloggers have some very good tips on graphic design for the benefit of the scientists "gamely trying to not look depressed at the complete lack of attention their posters are…
drorzel | June 1, 2011In just under two weeks, I'll be giving an invited talk at DAMOP (that is, the annual meeting of the Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics of the American Physical Society) that is intended to serve as an introduction to the meeting for new students or physicists from other fields. My plan is to pick 3-4 areas and give a quick summary of those subfields, highlgihting a few invited talks in that area from the full program.
My background is in cold-atom physics, so obviously I have a good idea of what's what in those areas, and I follow things like quantum information and precision…
crowdfavorite | March 14, 2011The Art of Science Learning is an NSF-funded exploration of how the arts can strengthen STEM skills and spark creativity in the 21st-Century American workforce. The project will be launched this spring with conferences in Washington, DC (at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, April 6-7), Chicago (Illinois Institute of Technology, May 16-17) and San Diego (CALIT2 at UCSD, June 14-15).
These conferences will bring together scientists, artists, educators, museum professionals, business leaders, researchers and policymakers, to explore the role of the arts in science education…
sb admin | March 14, 2011The Art of Science Learning is an NSF-funded exploration of how the arts can strengthen STEM skills and spark creativity in the 21st-Century American workforce. The project will be launched this spring with conferences in Washington, DC (at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, April 6-7), Chicago (Illinois Institute of Technology, May 16-17) and San Diego (CALIT2 at UCSD, June 14-15).
These conferences will bring together scientists, artists, educators, museum professionals, business leaders, researchers and policymakers, to explore the role of the arts in science education…
drorzel | March 11, 2011I've got three months to decide. I'll be giving an invited talk at the Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics (DAMOP) with this title, with a goal of introducing the field to students and physicists from other fields:
In recent years, DAMOP has expanded to the point where the meeting can be quite daunting for a first-time attendee. This talk will provide an introduction to some of the most exciting current areas of research in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical physics, intended to help undergraduates, beginning graduate students, or physicists from other fields attending their first…
drorzel | February 24, 2011My talk at the AAAS meeting was part of a symposium on the results from the 2008 Trends in International Math and Science Survey (TIMSS) Advanced. This is an international test on math and physics given to high-school students in nine different countries (Armenia, Iran, Italy, Lebanon, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Slovenia, Sweden), and this is part of an ongoing survey, with a previous round given in 1995 or 1998. As part of the preparation for the talk, I got all the released items from TIMSS 2008, including score breakdowns and demographic information. My own analysis of this was fairly…