Science Communication
Activities and Resources
If you're interested in adapting or using these resources or if you'd like me to speak on any of these or related topics: contact me!Public Talks
Star Formation in Our Galaxy
A talk on my star formation research aimed at the lay public, introduces how star formation research helps us understand the origin story of our own Solar System and a friendly and accessible overview of how computational astrophysics is done.
How Stars Told the Story of Our Galaxy
A dive into how we know the things we know about our Galaxy (size, what its made of, what stars are), foregrounding the contributions of the women astronomers employed as "human computers" at Harvard College Observatory.
These talks were originally written to be part of the UMMNH Scientist in the Forum program.
Hands-on Demonstrations: Star formation in a box of space-time
Ages 5+
Stars are made of interstellar gas that's been squished down until it lit up. How does the Universe bring together the raw materials to make stars?
In this activity, a box of space-time, a stretchy fabric secured around a wooden frame, is the setting, with marbles and pom-poms as stand-ins for 'light' and 'heavy' gas in our Galaxy. The audience can get a tactile understanding for how gravity from matter bends space time in order to create the environments for forming stars like our own Sun.
This activity was developed in the Science Communication Fellows program at UMMNH and implemented at Scientist Spotlights at UMMNH and at the FEMMES Capstone Events at the University of Michigan.