Understanding Written Science

Forbes and Nature recently published these two articles on the complexity of science writing:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2017/03/26/study-re-emphasizes-if-you-want-to-advance-science-try-explaining-it-more-simply/#61cc0de013ae

http://www.nature.com/news/it-s-not-just-you-science-papers-are-getting-harder-to-read-1.21751

These articles is related to one of my "deep thoughts" about science. Scientists have a need for precise communication to other scientists in order to accurately convey the details of our analysis. As a result, we have developed what are effectively entirely new languages full of technical jargon. Reading a biology paper is completely foreign to me. Even sub-fields within astronomy can read like different "dialects." For example, we can use different words between fields for the same mathematical analysis technique. This article is more about the quality of writing (sentence and word complexity), but the point is related. I'm glad to see that at least some people are attempting to understand this phenomenon and its implications. The need for science communicators (aka "translators") for the general public speaks to my fear of the (growing?) disconnect between scientific progress and the public perception of science. I fear that many of our failures - e.g. global warming, evolution - stem from a failure, or at least an underfunded effort, to communicate (translate) effectively. I'd even go so far as to change the typical formatting of a scientific papers in journals to require as a new standard the inclusion of the equivalent of an "executive summary" for the public - not just an abstract, but something free of jargon and comprehensible to a high school graduate. 

To summarize: The output of science shouldn't be accessible to only a select few who speak a specific "language" that requires years of specialized training to understand. Years of specialized training to undertake said research, sure. But not to understand the gist.

The Superbowl of Astronomy

Over 2400 students, professors, scientists and journalists will gather at the Gaylord Convention center in Grapevine, Texas this week to listen to over 1600 talks, explore exhibit booths, catch up with colleagues, and network.  We're here for the 229th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, referred by space.com as the Superbowl of Astronomy.

I'm bringing four of my students to the conference, and my department colleague, Dr. Mike Reed, is also bringing three of his students.  Springfield, MO is close to the center of the country, so we decided to make the trip to Texas by car - a 7 hour road trip! (for reference, the east coast is a ~16 hr drive; west coast ~24 hr drive, and Chicago ~8 hrs).

 

I'm reminded of this scene from the PhD movie sequel:

 I've apparently reached the PI career stage

To entice you to attend our posters and talks, below is a list of what Dr. Reed, myself, and our research students will be presenting.  Four students (marked below with an *) are applying to PhD programs, so if you are on a grad school admissions committee be sure to talk to them!   Many more of my former students are also going to the AAS meeting, and I look forward to catching up with them, listening to their talks and seeing their posters.

First year masters student, Bryson Cale*, will be giving a talk on Saturday morning (11:10-11:20am, Texas D, Session 403. Extrasolar Planets Detection: Radial Velocity II).  Bryson will present the motivation and first light observations with an isotopic methane gas cell on the iSHELL spectrometer at the NASA Infrared Telescope facility.  Our goal is to measure relative radial velocities of stars to better than 3 m/s precision to search for habitable zone exoplanets around M dwarfs, and to confirm planets discovered by the TESS mission.

Bryson Cale

First year masters student Patrick Newman*, will be presenting a poster on Wednesday (146.10 Extrasolar Planets: Detection Poster Session).  Patrick is working on radial velocity survey yield simulations for input into a future flagship direct imaging mission like WFIRST, HabEx, and LUVOIR. WFIRST will be launching in the 2020s, and HabEx and LUVOIR are under study right now for the 2020 Astrophysics Decadal survey for launch possibly in the 2030s.

Patrick Newman

Senior undergraduate Ryan Hall* will be presenting a poster on Wednesday (146.14 Extrasolar Planets: Detection Poster Session).   Ryan is the current lead of MICRONERVA, an array of small eight-inch telescopes to work robotically and autonomously together to synthesize the light gathering power of a larger telescope.  Ryan will present on the current capabilities and development of the prototype array of four telescopes.  Ryan and I will also be presenting at a splinter meeting for the MINERVA team on Thursday.

Ryan Hall

Senior undergraduate Shannon Dulz* will be presenting a poster on Thursday (245.13 Extrasolar Planets: Characterization & Theory Poster Session) on measuring Transit Timing Variations of two Kepler planetary systems. Shannon developed her own custom code, using a custom transit shape model to speed up the transit fitting process in determining the time of transit midpoint.

Shannon Dulz presenting at a conference in April 2016

Junior undergraduate and computer science major Frank Giddens will be demoing (at Ryan Halls poster) his node.js web server interface to MICRONERVA, complete with Python bridges to the hardware. Watch with us on a webcam as we remotely control the telescope and accessories back in our lab 400 miles away, as long as we don't have any live-demo technical difficulties!

Frank Giddens

Undergraduates John Crooke and Ryan Roessler will be presenting a poster (433.17 Stars of Many Stripes Late Poster Session) on their work with Dr. Reed on the asteroseismology of the subdwarf B star PG 1219+534.

I (Dr. Peter Plavchan, Assistant Professor, Missouri State University) will be presenting a talk on Friday (2:40-2:50pm Texas D Session 320. Extrasolar Planets Detection: Radial Velocity I).  I will be presenting the discovery of a candidate Jovian exoplanet around AU Mic!  The paper is drafted and circulated to co-authors, and will be submitted soon!

My colleague Dr. Reed will be presenting a talk on Wednesday (3-3:10pm Texas 4 Session 130. Variable Stars, Asteroseismology) on his latest research on the asteroseismology of subdwarf B stars.

I'm ready for the kickoff for the astronomy Superbowl!