Ashley presenting her poster on the fourth day of the conference! iPoster sessions are becoming increasingly popular and there are many pros to this format!
Author: Ashley Lieber | Major: Physics | Semester: Summer 2022
Ashley Lieber is an honors student in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas majoring in Physics with a concentration in astronomy and minors in mathematics and STEM education. She graduated with Summa Cum Laude honors this past May. During her time at the University of Arkansas, she conducted research under the mentorship of Dr. Julia Kennefick, an associate professor in the Physics department. Dr. Kennefick provided immense support and guidance on a project pertaining to variable stars and most recently on Lieber’s honors thesis work on M dwarf stars which is the work that has been generously funded by a University of Arkansas Honors College Research Grant. This thesis work was successfully defended this past semester, Spring 2022, thus granting her level of graduation honors in conjunction with her GPA. Looking forward, she will be attending the University of Kansas this fall as a Lowry Fellow to pursue her Ph.D. in Physics and Astronomy.
In the spring of 2021, I wanted to expand the bounds of my research skills and begin my thesis work, so I decided, along with my mentor Dr. Julia Kennefick, to pursue a project that was tangential to the work of a current physics Ph.D. candidate, Paul Bonney. While Paul focused his efforts on modeling the atmospheres of certain Earth-like exoplanets, I aimed to characterize the stellar flares of the M dwarf stars that host these planets. Just as the Sun flares and impacts Earth, so do these M dwarf host stars flare and affect the planets in their orbit. The search for life on planets like Earth outside of our solar system is very complex, but this work aims to help complete a part of that much larger puzzle. In working on this project over my final semesters at the University of Arkansas and coming out of the conference lull that accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic, I was especially eager to attend an in person conference both for the opportunity to present my work and to network with amazing professionals from around the world. At first, my mentor proposed attending the Protostars and Planets VII Conference in Kyoto, Japan, however, due to the uncertainty of the pandemic situation in Japan, this conference was delayed multiple times and is now going to occur in Spring 2023. With that conference out of the running, I planned to attend the American Astronomical Society’s (AAS) 239th meeting slated to occur in Salt Lake City in January 2022, however due to the outbreak of the Delta variant of COVID, this conference was canceled just days before it was supposed to begin and combined with the 240th meeting in June of 2022. After all of that, I was finally able to attend the summer AAS meeting in Pasadena, California. This is a weeklong conference from Sunday, June 12th through Thursday June 17th. I was so excited to attend this conference and present a iPoster of my work! Because the Winter meeting had been cancelled, this conference was larger than it had ever been before. It is becoming increasingly common to use iPosters in these large conferences due to ease for attendees to forgo printing and transporting a large poster. Additionally, I enjoy the fact that I can embed animated gifs and videos on the poster to better illustrate my work to those I discuss it with. At this conference, each day was filled to the brim with sessions to attend from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. I attended talks about research similar to mine and vastly different from mine and even special sessions to discuss astronomy education and diversity and equity. Wherever your passion lies within astronomy, there was a session for you! I also would peruse the exhibit hall to visit the numerous booths from NASA booths, to publishing booths, to industry companies, to up and coming observatories. There are also special sessions called Town Halls in which different sectors of the AAS society such as Historical Astronomy Division or Planetary Science Division would discuss the state of the group and ways to get involved. I attended the planetary science town hall in which they discussed all the amazing missions and goals they have set for the next 20-30 years which was incredibly exciting to hear about. I also attended sessions for the Historical Astronomy division of which a U of A professor, Dr. Daniel Kennefick, presented on a historical topic within astronomy. Each field has its history and learning more about the scientific pioneers that preceded us gives me great hope in looking towards the boundless future!
Another type of session was plenary and prize talks. These talks were much longer and devoted to those being recognized for their amazing work and dedication. These talks were a great way to hear about the cutting edge research that is going on which is great as I am currently facing the decision of what I would like to focus on in my graduate work this fall. Because this conference is attended by many working professionals, there are sessions each day (sometimes multiple a day) to hold press conferences to officially announce discoveries and substantive findings. I presented my poster on Wednesday of the conference which was great as I had already acclimated to the conference environment. I participated in the Chambliss Poster competition as well in which judges will come around and awards are given to the best posters and presentations. The winners haven’t been announced, but it was a great experience regardless. There were people at the conference from high school all the way to retirees, so it is never too early to start getting involved with conferences. They can be instrumental in advancing your career by making connections with those from other institutions which is a major takeaway I had. Personally, I connected with many NASA employees either at the booths or by discussing over coffee. These connections are much easier to make in person as opposed to online and even though stepping outside of your comfort zone can be tough as a early career scientist, you must keep in mind that conferences are full of “nerds” who are excited to talk about what they do and what you want to do! Chances are you will meet someone who is enthusiastic and interested in what you do and willing to connect and help you make connections! This conference made networking even easier by creating a Slack channel for the conference which allows you to connect with people even if you aren’t about to chat with them in person.
At the end of the day, this conference was a nerve racking experience, but so worth it in every way. I was able to learn about internship and career opportunities I didn’t know about before. I was able to give advice to undergraduate students, meet my peers who are graduate students, and connect with professionals who may very well help me get a job in the future. As much as it is a professional atmosphere, it is also a laid back space to get to know others who are just as passionate about the things you are passionate about. You can go from giving a presentation and listening to talks with these peers, to enjoying dinner and drinks with those same people all within the same day. I was blown away by my first large-conference experience, and I cannot wait to attend more. If you have any questions about this conference, or conferences in general, feel free to send me an email or message me on LinkedIn! They can be intimidating, but they should also be a blast.