WKU Co-Hosts National
Astronomy Meeting In Nashville
May 20, 2003
Bowling Green, Ky. - Western Kentucky University's astronomy program is co-hosting next week’s meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Nashville, Tenn.
"We're bringing astronomers from around the world to our backyard to discuss the hottest topics in astrophysics," said Dr. Richard Gelderman, associate professor in WKU's Department of Physics and Astronomy and co-chair of the local organizing committee. "This meeting will showcase Western and other astronomy groups in the region."
WKU is co-hosting the May 25-29 meeting at the Nashville Convention Center along with Middle Tennessee State University, Tennessee State University and Vanderbilt University.
Six WKU faculty members (Dr. Gelderman, Dr. Michael Carini, Dr. David Barnaby, Dr. Sergey Marchenko, Dr. Charles McGruder, Dr. Roger Scott) and eight undergraduate students (Ashley Atkerson, Allen Glass, Lindsay Hopper, TalaWanda Monroe, Wesley T. Ryle, Whitney Wills, Earl Wood, Robert Zimmerman) have co-authored presentations for the meeting.
Dr. Gelderman will lead a presentation on Western's effort to refurbish telescopes at Western's Bell Astrophysical Observatory and at Kitt Peak in Arizona for remote robotic operation.
"This is one of the areas of specialty we have developed at Western," he said, adding that Tennessee State has developed a national reputation for its work on robotic telescope projects.
Dr. Carini will lead a presentation on Western's long-term research into light emitted from supermassive black holes at the centers of distant galaxies, with more brightness emitted from the center than from an entire normal galaxy's hundreds of billions of stars.
"Dr. Carini is the latest scientist conducting nationally recognized research at Western on this topic," Dr. Gelderman said. Dr. Roger Scott, Dr. Richard Hackney and Dr. Karen Hackney have been involved with research into active galactic nuclei for two decades.
Another conference highlight will be a public lecture on "Seyfert Galaxies, Quasars and the Edge of the Universe" by Dr. Daniel W. Weedman of Cornell University. He will speak at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Western and other co-hosts have been working since 1998 to host the 202nd meeting of the AAS, the major organization for professional research astronomers. The AAS has about 6,500 members from North America and worldwide.
During the AAS meetings, researchers exchange information and often announce new discoveries, Dr. Gelderman said.
"The proximity of this year's meeting will allow more Western students to participate and will allow Western to showcase its work for a national and international audience," Dr. Gelderman said.
Additional information on the meeting is available online at http://www.aas.org/meetings/aas202/program/
For more information, contact Richard Gelderman at (270) 745-6203. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via E-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
