The University of Texas At Austin:
Photo by
Joel Barna
Join Us for the February 2013 Board of Visitors Meeting
The next Board of Visitors meeting will be held Friday and Saturday, February 8-9, 2013, in Austin. We are looking forward to the chance to share the great work going on in the Texas Astronomy Program with BoV members.
Friday Afternoon Science Discussion Groups:
A fast-paced trio
and Supernovae
For BoV members who want to attend Science
Discussion Groups (SDGs), the special events of the meeting will begin
on Friday, February 8, at 2:30 p.m. on the 15th floor of Robert Lee
Moore Hall on The University of Texas at Austin campus.
Dr. Craig Wheeler
From 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. we will offer a trio of “mini SDGs.” Three SDG Leaders will each lead a round-table mini discussion for 20 minutes, and will then rotate to a second group, and then to a third group. A package of three topics is being offered to a group of eight BoV members at each table. The SDG leaders and topics for the SDG trio are Dr. Jeffrey M. Silverman (discussion topic: “Exploding Stars, Dark Energy, and the Runaway Universe”), Prize-winning Graduate Student JJ Hermes (discussion topic: “Seeing the Effects of Gravitational Waves from a 75-Year-Old Telescope at McDonald Observatory”), and McDonald Observatory Assistant Director Dr. Anita Cochran (discussion topic: “The Status of the Giant Magellan Telescope and UT's Role”).
From 3:45 to 4:45 p.m., also on the 15th floor of Robert Lee Moore Hall, Professor Craig Wheeler will offer an SDG on the topic “Forty Years of Supernovae.”
Dr. Michael Starbird
Friday Evening Reception, Supper, and “Effective Thinking”
The regular events of the Board of Visitors meeting will begin with a
reception at AT&T Executive Education & Conference Center on campus from
6:30 to 7:30 p.m. (in Salons D and E), followed by the Board of Visitors
Dinner, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. (in Salon C). The Board of Visitors Staff
Excellence Awards will be presented (and Student Award honorees will be
acknowledged). The after-dinner speaker will be Dr. Michael Starbird,
University of Texas at Austin Professor of Mathematics and University
Distinguished Teaching Professor, whose topic will be “The Five Elements
of Effective Thinking.”
Saturday Events: Meals and a Lively Meeting
On Saturday,
February 9, the events will start with breakfast from 8 to 8:45 in the
ACES Building lobby. The meeting, starting at 9 a.m. in the Avaya
Auditorium, will feature science talks by faculty member Dr. Steven
Finkelstein (“Creating a Hub for Observing the Distant Universe in
Texas”), Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Isa Oliveira (“Studying Protoplanetary
Disks with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope”), and Graduate Student Manos
Chatzopoulos (“Understanding the Brightest Fireworks in the Universe”).
Dean Linda Hicke will present a report on the College of Natural
Sciences, Department of Astronomy Chair Daniel Jaffe will present his
Chair’s report, and there will be a Board of Visitors business meeting.
Lunch will follow in the ACES Building lobby from Noon to 1 p.m.
Dr. Volker Bromm will present the 21st Annual Great Lecture (“The First Stars and Galaxies”) from 1 to 2 p.m.
Dr. Volker Bromm
And the events of the weekend will wrap up with a Science Discussion Group led by Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Anson D’Aloisio (discussion topic: “Cosmic Dawn and the Rise of Large-scale Structure in the Universe”) held in the ACES Building’s Visualization Lab from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m.
We hope you can join us.
[Joel Barna]
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