Outreach
Docent at UMMNH
"Docents help with programs for groups and visitors, birthday parties, events, the museum store, the planetarium and much more. Docents receive extensive paid training in informal education, customer service and basic instruction in several natural history topics, including paleontology, wildlife and ecology. This is a paid position."
In the fall and spring of 2022/2023, I worked as a docent at the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History. I primarily ran the host desk and worked as group host where I answered general questions and directed guests. However, I also resented public demos on ancient whales and astrobiology, and ran Hands on Discovery Carts where I handled objects related to Michigan food chains
OLLI
"The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Michigan was established to encourage adults to continue their learning long after formal schooling is done. The Institute’s popular programs help mature adults to rediscover the piquancy of learning — the joy of discovery and feelings of accomplishment that are unencumbered by tests, grades, or drills." You can learn more here.
In the fall of 2021, I created and taught the OLLI course: Mysteries in Our Cosmic Backyard: What we do and do not know about our Solar System. Over the course of 13 weeks, we covered the history, science, and open questions for every region of the Solar System, from the Sun to the Oort cloud. In our two-hour meetings students were asked to submit questions on the week's topic which would then be answered by their fellow students. This class was one of the most well-received of the semester. You can find an example presentation below.
Nerd Nite Ann Arbor
In the summer of 2019, I participated in Ann Arbor's special space-focused Nerd Nite event in honor of the moon landing. Nerd Nite is an informal event where experts across a wide variety of disciplines present to the public at a local bar. In my talk, “Hidden Planets”, I explained how orbits of objects we already know about in our Solar System can be used to infer the existence of yet unseen planets, covering everything from Neptune to Planet X. You can watch a recording of my talk below.
FEMMES
"F.E.M.M.E.S. is dedicated to closing gender and racial divides in computer science and science, technology, engineering and math (CS/STEM) fields. Working specifically in diverse, underserved communities, F.E.M.M.E.S. creates collaborative teaching and learning environments to promote leadership development, technical skills and self-confidence of women of all ages." You can learn more here.
I am one of the organizers for the Astronomy department’s participation in the University of Michigan’s biannual capstone events for FEMMES. At this event, 4th - 6th graders from schools in southeast Michigan participate in hands-on demos related to a variety of disciplines. As organizer, I am in charge of soliciting volunteers and managing the astronomy demos.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, these biannual events have been held virtually in recent years. In particular, our group participated in the Winter 2021 4-week program. This virtual format meant that we had to prepare new astronomy activities that could be done and explained over zoom. In addition to my leadership role, I helped to design and prepare the virtual Solar System scroll activity (activity here). This activity was popular amongst the students, who often had previous knowledge of our planets.