Spring 2023 Meeting of the Illinois Section of the AAPT
"Advances in Astronomy"
March 17-18, 2023
Department of Physics
Knox College
Galesburg, IL
We invite you to attend the Spring 2023 meeting of the ISAAPT. Come to learn more about physics, discover new tools and techniques for teaching physics, share your experiences via contributed presentations and Take Fives, and meet old and new friends.
Abstract Submission for Contributed Presentations is now closed
Register to attend! - Prepay your meeting fees!
List of Presentations - Click on the tabs to see the details
Attendees - Click on the tabs to see the details
Campus map - Parking map - Hotels - Driving Directions - Photos
Visitors can park conveniently in the lots adjacent to the Umbeck Science and Mathematics Center, accessible from Academy Street or Berrien Street. Visitors can also park in other campus parking lots or along local streets.
Registration will be in the Umbeck Science and Mathematics Center Atrium
340 S. West Street, Galesburg, IL 61041.
Invited Speakers
Friday evening:
Exploring the Chemical Evolution of the Universe
John Salzer, Provost Professor of Astronomy, Indiana University
In this talk, we will describe how astronomers go about measuring the chemical makeup of the Universe. We will start by exploring how spectroscopic observations of star-forming regions in distant galaxies can be used to derive accurate "metal" abundances. Next, we will review a few recent studies that utilize these observational techniques to search for and measure some of the least-chemically-evolved galaxies in the local universe. We will conclude by linking these studies to the biggest question of them all: the origin of the Universe.
Saturday morning:
Innovation & Technology for Astronomy's next ultraviolet telescopes
Prof. Keri Hoadley, Department of Astronomy, University of Iowa
The next several decades hold the promise to revolutionize our understanding of the universe and our place in it. To make important strides in all fields of astrophysics, particularly in how we form things, though, we must take a careful look at what we need to observe how objects - from galaxies to stars and the planets that orbit them - come together in the first place. Ultraviolet (UV) light plays a unique role in all these processes, and I will highlight projects my group is involved with (FIREBall-2, Hyperion) looking to observe critical tracers of atoms and molecules that emit and absorb light in the UV to understand how galaxies, stars, and planets form. I'll also talk about key programs in technology and innovation that my group focuses on that will make these next-generation UV telescopes a reality.
Workshops
IOLab – a multi-sensor device for K1-College
Morten Lundsgaard, Department of Physics, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
The IOLab is a wireless data acquisition system of similar size and weight as a graphing calculator, and thus highly portable. It contains more than twenty sensors or inputs, including a 3D accelerometer, a 3D magnetometer, a 3D gyroscope, wheels which record position, velocity, and acceleration, a force probe, and both analog and digital inputs. Data can be analyzed in the IOLab software itself, or can be exported to a comma separated value file for later analysis.
In the workshop, the participants will first complete some the open-ended labs that we are currently introducing in the introductory physics courses at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Next, participants can explore the many features of the iOLab at various stations including a two-wire ECG-measurement! Participants will get access to an online course that contains prelab and lab ideas for both high school and college.
To make the IOLab experience more authentic, participants should bring their own computer, pc or mac, to the workshop.
For more information on the iOLab, see http://www.iolab.science.
Meeting Host: Tom Moses (tmoses@knox.edu)
