AST 0701849 Jeffrey Kenney (PI), Nathan McCrady (co-PI), Mary McSwain (co-PI), Erik Rosolowsky (co-PI)
Dr. Jeffrey Kenney (Yale University), along with co-PIs Nathan McCrady (UCLA), Mary McSwain (Yale University), and Erik Rosolowsky (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) are awarded funds to organize and conduct the fifth annual symposium of the NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship (AAPF) program. The symposium, to be held January 5-6, 2007 in Seattle, WA, will bring together the AAPF fellows, faculty mentors, prospective AAPF applicants, and interested members of the astronomical community. This will allow the fellows to present their research and educational activities, and better establish ways to enrich the fellowship experience itself. Additionally, fellows will obtain opportunities to establish interdisciplinary projects with colleagues during the symposium.
The integration of educational activities into the research efforts of the fellows provides for a broad impact of the fellowship program. Many fellows participate in K-12/public outreach activities, leading to enhancement of the public's interest in science. The symposium will allow the fellows to share their ideas and experiences, not only among themselves, but also with faculty mentors and with others in attendance. Of particular note for this year's symposium is the joint meeting of the American Astronomical Society and the American Association of Physics Teachers (which immediately follows the AAPF symposium), which should result in an even richer pool of potential attendees to the symposium interested in science education and, thus, the chance to reach an even broader audience than in previous symposia.
