SPRING 2022 ERTH-106 Guest Speaker Zoom Meetings (Black Holes and the Beginning of the Universe Course)
These are "fireside chat" style talks with scientists or former students of mine who are now studying or working in science!

Each week I conduct a Zoom Chat with a scientist working with astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology, or science and engineering, or an alum of SBCC from our astronomy program to see what they are doing now with school, education, or their lives and careers.  Some of our former students are doing amazing things.  I will be reaching out to contacts I've made over my teaching career so that we can personalize and humanize the material and create more of an "in person" classroom experience. Zoom meetings are recorded and you can watch them below. The last on the list is the upcoming currently scheduled Zoom Chat with the link to join the conversation.

Zoom Chat with Scientist / Alumni, Friday 1/21 at 7 pm
https://youtu.be/OWZI1Aumm28

• Hector Jimenez, former SBCC student now working as a scientist in the Airforce and flying C-130's as a navigator, and doing astrophotography with his own equipment from his back yard. My first PowerPoint image backdrop of the Orion Nebula was taken by Hector, and he will share with us more images and will tell us how he does it.

Zoom Chat with Scientist / Alumni, Friday 1/28 at 3 pm
We had a great Zoom Meeting.  Here is the recording:  
https://youtu.be/_dW1hutPUxI

• Dr. Tom Farr, Recently retired JPL Planetary Geologist who has worked on most all the important planetary exploration missions for the past 40 years (most of the space programs history).  He also teaches our 1 unit NASA Missions class.  Join us to say hello and to ask him questions about NASA planetary exploration.

Zoom Chat with Scientist / Alumni, Friday Feb 4 at 3 pm
We had a great Zoom Meeting.  Here is the recording:  
https://youtu.be/MCW_VyWCab8

• Dr. Isabel Lipartito recently defended her PhD in (Astro)Physics from UCSB and will share with the class her journey in science and the challenges women in STEM face in a competative male dominated academic field. Her areas of research at UCSB include binary, cluster, and exoplanet studies, and she has co-hosted many "Astronomy on Tap" events with Las Cumbres Global Observatory in Santa Barbara (pre-pandemic of course). She is currently working as a Senior Systems Integration and Test Engineer at Lockheed Martin.

Zoom Chat with Scientist / Alumni, Thursday Feb 10 at 1 pm
We had a great Zoom Meeting.  Here is the recording:
https://youtu.be/mp4g0DQQnlE

• Dr. Philip Lubin, Professor, Researcher, UCSB Experimental Cosmology and Directed Energy. Phil has been a principal investigator with both the COBE and PLANCK CMB Mapping Missions and has worked with high altitude balloon projects and South Pole projects. Click here to see current Exp Cosm Lab Projects. He has lead many cutting edge and innovative experimental endeavors with digital image processing and directed energy Planetary Defense, using lasers to deflect or destroy meteoroids, asteroids and comets (before they get us), and to use lasers to propel microchip sized spacecraft to nearby stars at "the speed of light (and maybe with microorganisms hitching a ride". Click here for more info on Phil's education, teaching, and research background.
• TIMINGS:
  0 - 0:47   Introductions
  0:47 - 53:28   Cosmology with COBE and PLANCK
  53:40 - 1:09:11   Student Question: STARLIGHT, WATERCRAFT, and ET (sending microchip spacecraft to stars using lasers)
  1:09:11 - 1:23:24   Student Question: What about relativistic mass?
  1:23:24 - End   Discussion with class about talk

Zoom Chat with Scientist / Alumni, Thursday Feb 17 at 5 pm
We had a great Zoom Meeting.  Here is the recording:
https://youtu.be/UGRM8Str43c

• Amalu Shimamura, Jessica Macfarlane, and Sabrina Wagner all were students here at SBCC.  All three graduated with degrees in physics and now all work at an innovative company called Freedom Photonics here in Santa Barbara. The company specializes in advanced semiconductor photonic component technology, has it's own specialized patents, and is designing and building lasers that will be used in space based operations in orbit and perhaps on the Moon.  They will share with us about their educational journey, the challenges with underrepresentation in upper division physics at UCSB and Berkeley, and the work they all do at Freedom Photonics.

Zoom Chat with Scientist / Alumni, Friday Feb 25 at 4 pm
We had a great Zoom Meeting.  Here is the recording:
https://youtu.be/ogH7z73pMl0

• Jason Barrios, former student at SBCC who is now completing a major in Physics at UCSB and working toward a PhD in experimental astro-particle physics. He is also the tutor for our class and very knowledgeable with many of the advanced topics we have been discussing. Don't hesitate to reach out to him. For our Zoom Chat he will share with us some very amazing internship experiences he has had over the past few years. We want to encourage SBCC Students to look into internship opportunities NOW, not later. There are many programs specifically directed toward Community College students and the opportunities and experiences are very valuable. Jason can speak toward this first-hand.

Zoom Chat with Scientist / Alumni, Thr Mar 3 at 7 pm
We had a great Zoom Meeting. Here is the recording:
https://youtu.be/subGVjUCuKA

• Jared Goldberg, UCSB PhD candidate in Stellar Evolution.  He probably knows more intimate details about the star Betelgeuse than you do of your loved ones.  Jared did his undergraduate double major in "Physics and Philosophy" at Claremont McKenna College and took numerous courses from Harvey Mudd (where I went to school).  He di a summer undergrad research fellowship at Caltech (another example of the value of internship experiences).  Upon completion of his PhD he will join the Center for Computational Astrophysics in NYC as a Flatiron Research Fellow coming fall.  Jared can offer insight and perspective on the differences between small liberal arts colleges vs large research institutions (both are good, but what are the pros and cons).  Jared also has been teaching the Astronomy Lab courses for us here at SBCC for several years, and perhaps due to being a 3d degree black belt in Karate, he usually wins all arguments (though he credits his philosophy degree for that).  Please join us for a lively conversation about exploding stars and the varied educational paths available to students in STEM at smaller schools vs bigger schools.

Zoom Chat with Scientist / Alumni, Fri Mar 11 at 3 pm
We had a great Zoom Meeting. Here is the recording:
https://youtu.be/Yzbw5NMLyPI

• Former SBCC student and Astronomy Club Officer, Zarina Dhillon has transferred to Claremont McKenna College with a passion for math! Three years ago she was a pre-professional ballet dancer who had never taken a college math class! Within two years she was tutoring (Astronomy, Calculus 1 &2, and Statistics), doing NSF summer internships in STEM, and graduated from SBCC with honors and with 8 degrees! She now has a full ride scholarship at CMC and hopes to continue her graduate studies in education and math. Join us for a lively conversation where Zarina will share with us her strategies for a successful transfer and advice on educational pursuits. Zarina was also the recipient of several SBCC scholarships - you can read her essay on the SBCC Foundation Website.
  https://www.sbccfoundation.org/alumni-stories/?fbclid=IwAR1V96vK9EZHQdqK3mbr-Yr0oH74GOCn4L4GQS-Lzl3whSWhM0zNuwrZaPY

Zoom Chat with Scientist / Alumni, Wed Mar 16 at 10 am
We had a great Zoom Meeting. Here is the recording:
https://youtu.be/4ylbnN2MMoU

• Professor Emeritus Fred Marschak was instrumental in building up SBCC's Astronomy Program.  He developed many of our courses and built up from scratch the Astronomy Lab program, equipment, pedagogy and resources. He also developed the SB Museum's Astronomy Program and founded the SBAU. I myself took his class while in high school and he trained me on the planetarium and inspired me to be a teacher when I was fresh out of College.  Fred is now retired (sortof) and lives back East with his wife and two cats, but continues to be heavily involved with planetarium productions and and outreach programs in astronomy.  Fred will share with us his career highlights in astronomy education and will offer advice for anyone interested in continuing with on a path involving astronomy education and/or with an interest in astronomy professionally or personally.  His legacy lives on in the form of the annual $1000 Fred Marschak Astronomy Scholarship offered by our school/department to students involved with our astronomy club and programs.

Zoom Chat with Scientist / Alumni, Thr Mar 31 at 10 am
We had a great Zoom Meeting. Here is the recording:
https://youtu.be/hdx1e1ch2rk

• Iair (pronounced, "ya-eer") Arcavi is an astronomer at Tel Aviv University in Israel. He earned his PhD in astrophysics from the Weizmann Institute of Science, and was later a NASA Einstein Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California Santa Barbara. Iair has been using the robotic telescopes of Las Cumbres Observatory, networked around the globe, to catch fleeting astronomical events such as exploding supernovae, stars torn apart by supermassive black holes, and the flare made by merging neutron stars, known as a kilonova. Iair is also an amateur photographer and enjoys an addiction to chocolate. Iair was very involved with our SBCC Astronomy Club for several years while working here in the US. He arranged special tours for us of the Las Cumbres facilities and telescopes. He has a passion and an interest in science education and we were sad to lose him when he returned to his teaching/research post in Israel.
• YouTube Video featuring Iair Arcavi and his research at Las Cumbres Observatory (Iair at 0:30, 1:45, etc)
  https://youtu.be/aLCl2PpV-wo

Zoom Chat with Scientist / Alumni, Fri Apr 8 at 3 pm
We had a great Zoom Meeting. Here is the recording:
https://youtu.be/nfLo4SgdXuw

• Joseph "Zippy" Connell is finishing up his PhD in theoretical particle physics at UC Santa Cruz and has enjoyed teaching physics classes while in graduate school. He grew up in Hawaii and his science career started at SBCC when he took, and then tutored astronomy and its lab, physics, and math. After transferring to UCSB and completing his bachelor's degree, he moved to Santa Cruz for graduate school, bigger surf, and more access to Nature. His research includes searching for new fundamental particles called Higgs bosons, and student-focused teaching practices (as opposed to the traditional curriculum-based approach). In his free time, he surfs (a lot), writes songs, gardens, and delves into new hobbies such as painting, cloudspotting, and pouring wine.

Zoom Chat with Scientist / Alumni, Wed April 13 at 7 pm
We had a great Zoom Meeting. Here is the recording:
https://youtu.be/x16XF94ofcc

• Clara, Mistea, and Bree are three dynamic women in STEM who met through SBCC Astronomy Club involvement and now are at three different stages of their Educational path.  Each will share with us where they are at and what they are doing in working toward a STEM degree. Clara is a declared physics major at UCLA, Mistea is a declared physics major at Cal State San Francisco, and Bree is a declared physics/engineering major finishing up at SBCC and has been heavily involved with physics/engineering projects to build telescopes, launch cameras into space (yep... we at SBCC actually did that), and with other educational outreach programs events.  We will discuss the transfer experience and the many ways STEM majors can get involved with STEM activities and opportunities at every stage of their educational path.

Zoom Chat with Scientist / Alumni, Wed April 20 at 7 pm
We had a great Zoom Meeting. Here is the recording:
https://youtu.be/ITm4Wc8J4oM

• Jatila Van der Veen has for the past 30 years been involved with cosmology research, has spearheaded numerous science education projects, and has taught astronomy for UCSB and SBCC. More recently she has been working with several exciting projects. One involves propelling small, 10-gram or less, wafer-sized satellites (wafersats) out of the Solar System using coherent beams of directed energy. The destination is our nearest neighbor, the Alpha Centauri System, around 4.2 light years away. One of our ideas was to send tiny critters – the nematode C. elegans and the tardigrades H. dujardini, out of the solar system on these wafersats. She has also been working with a group at UCSB working on lunar surface operations, in particular dust mitigation. As NASA prepares to send the first crew back to the Moon in 2024-25, one of the biggest challenges is how to reduce the dangers of the lunar regolith – the surface dust, churned up by billions of years of bombardment by large and microscopic meteorites. Please join us live to ask questions about these amazing projects. For Jatila's full bio, click here.

Zoom Chat with Scientist / Alumni, Thr April 28 at 5 pm (Extra Credit if you attend LIVE)
We had a great Zoom Meeting. Here is the recording:
https://youtu.be/urKowMxoBOA

• Rob Geller teaches physics at UCSB, has done research with Black Holes, and is also the author of both a college level physics text and a college level math-based astronomy text.  Although he enjoys doing research and working on textbooks, he especially loves to teach and has won several teaching awards at UCSB.  In his spare time he rock climbs and we often philosophize about science, teaching, life, family, parallel universes, and how to keep our kids out of trouble!