ASTR 310: Astrophysics Seminar II / Astronomy Journal Club

Spring 2024 - Thursdays at 3:00pm

Week	Date	Presenter: Topic
1	Jan 18	Organizational session
2	Jan 25	Janesh et al: AAS Meeting recap / discussion
3	Feb 1	McGaugh
4	Feb 8	Mihos
5	Feb 15	Mistele
6	Feb 22	Burns-Watson
7	Feb 29
8	Mar 7	Gold
9	Mar 14	Spring Break!
10	Mar 21	Aviva Rothman talk in KSL @4:30?
11	Mar 28	Malkin
12	Apr 4	Jones
13	Apr 11	Steve Kerby (PSU/MSU)
13	Apr 18	Capstone talks
14	Apr 25	Capstone talks

Faculty contact: Professor Chris Mihos

ASTR 310 is a one credit hour course intended for 4th year undergraduate astronomy students. It is required for majors.

Depending on the week, we will be doing one of several various activities:

• Group discussion of recent research in the astronomical literature.
  
• Individual research presentations by students and faculty.
• Having a research presentation by a visiting astronomer.
• Discussing career opportunities for astronomy students
  

The course is graded pass/fail, based on the following criteria.

• Students must attend all sessions, unless an excused absence is arranged ahead of time with the instructor.
• Students must give a one oral presentation, which can be a research presentation, a review of a scientific article, or other topics on similar themes. The scheduling of these talks will be arranged in consultation with the instructor.
• For weeks when a paper is being discussed, students should read the paper in advance and be prepared to contribute to the discussion.

Possibilities for things to talk about:

• Research you are involved in
  
• Interesting new astronomy science results
  
• Interesting papers you've read
• Upcoming observatories and/or missions (Rubin/LSST, Roman Telescope, Euclid, etc)
• Need more ideas? You can check the "Astronomy in the News" links hosted by the American Astronomical Society. These are press releases, not scientific articles, but they often will give you a idea of what the interesting science is, and also point you towards the relevant journal article.
  

Feel free to start with some of the "popular science" articles linked above, but you should dig down into the more technical scientific details and explain those as well. See if there is a journal article about the study, for example, or look at what previous studies have shown....