Follette Labbers at AAS 243 in New Orleans
Current Follette lab members descended on New Orleans in force for the 243rd American Astronomical Society meeting last week.
Left to right: Suyash Deshmukh, me, Adrian Friedman, Bethany Martin, Josie Carillo, Catalina Zamora, Courtney Reed. Not pictured: Alex Del Franco, Giselle Hoermann
All five of this year’s thesis students (Courtney Reed, Giselle Hoermann, Bethany Martin, Alex Del Franco, and Adrian Friedman) were able to attend and present their work. Summer student Josie Carillo, postbac Suyash Deshmukh, and graduate student Catalina Zamora rounded out the group with lots more great science. See a list of poster titles with links to the full iPosters below. It was a great week of learning, networking, and enjoying beautiful New Orleans, which I have always wanted to visit.
AAS 243 Posters by Follette Labbers:
Adrian Friedman (thesis student): “Integration of Fiber-Fed Spectroscopy at the Amherst College Observatory”
Alex Del Franco (thesis student): “A Student’s Guide to Astrophysics: Improving Conceptual Understanding Through Development of an Interactive Online Applet Series”
Courtney Reed (thesis student): “Quantifying the Morphology of Planet-Forming Disks”
Bethany Martin (thesis student): “Probing Substellar Formation with Spectra of Low Mass Brown Dwarfs and Stars”
Giselle Hoermann (thesis student): “Exploring Gemini Planet Imager Exoplanet Survey Data with Optimized Processing Methods for Planet Detection”
Suyash Deshmukh (postbac): “Integrating the Kwan and Fischer Local Line Excitation Models Over Realistic Accretion Columns”
Catalina Zamora (graduate student): “Understanding Accreting Brown Dwarfs through Simulation Tools”
Bethany, Adrian, and I also presented a poster about a class that I taught last spring from both the instructor and student perspective. “The Virtues of Teaching and Learning Outside One’s Comfort Zone: Design and First Implementation of a 200-level ‘Physics and Astronomy in Sociocultural Context’ Course”
With such a large group attending, we rented an Air BnB and did a potluck one night, when the students surprised me with this beautiful handmade chocolate cake and a message spelled out in beignets. That’s right, I recently learned that I will be awarded tenure this year! Woohoo!
