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Need someone to science your audience? Want to learn more about astronomy’s latest discoveries, the role of everyday people in exploring our universe through citizen science, or someone to talk about how the astronomy advances at the speed of computing thanks to innovations in AI/ML, GPUs, and more? I am available for your IRL or virtual event.
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The Earth is trying to give you more hours in your day… but it wasn’t always
As we gear up for our yearly fundraiser, I feel confident in saying that just about everyone on our team is wishing we could somehow cram more hours into every day. At a certain level, our world is happy to oblige, and every year our days get the smallest fraction of...
NANOGrav: Fluctuations in space captured in real-time
Heading into the holiday weekend, social media exploded with news that a massive discovery was going to be announced on Thursday June 29 by the NANOgrav collaboration. This network of North American observatories had been watching the sky in radio light for over 15...
The echos of genetics
When I was in 8th and 9th grade, whenever my parents wanted to buy my grandmother something to wear, I had to try it on. That was the age I stopped growing taller, and she and I were the same height. She was a slight women and I was a gangly teen. Thin is not the norm...
COVID-19 — Do more than wash your hands
As I watch the COVID-19 virus boil up in hotspots scattered around the globe, I look around at the US and realize that 40 years of presidential economic decisions that favour profit over people have set us up to struggle as a nation. From lack of affordable health...
Toward a greater good: TMT & Starlink
[N.B. This post has been bouncing around in my head since I was in Hawaii for the American Astronomical Society Meeting several weeks ago. I haven't written it yet because I suspect I'm going to piss off everyone, and that is actually not a goal, but sometimes finding...
For every generation a hero: Remembering Apollo 1, Challenger, & Columbia
credit: Jaideep Khemani from Dubai, United Arab Emirates This morning my Google calendar of space history woke me to say that the space shuttle Challenger exploded 34 years ago today. If you are GenX like me, you remember exactly where you were in 1986 when the...
Will the Boeing / SpaceX space race be fair?
This Sunday, January 19, 2020, after multiple weather-related delays, SpaceX was able to launch a 3-time used Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39A. Atop this rocket was a Crew Dragon capsule containing two mannequins and a whole lot of sensors. This...
Astronomy conference economics
What feels like a million years ago, I attended my first American Astronomical Society meeting. It was my senior year at MSU and it was expected that I’d be presenting research to help me get into grad school. I can’t remember exactly what was in my poster, but I...
Counting rocks: Maybe it’s enough
[N.B. Yesterday I accepted the Issac Asimov Science Award from the American Humanist Society. This is my acceptance speech, which you can watch it over on YouTube. If my voice sounds off, it's because I'm still recovering from #@$!(*^!@% Bronchitis.] Memory is a...