Program - Preliminary

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Online talks for this workshop are available at the following URL. Links to the individual talks are also provided in the program below)

The University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center (UC-HiPACC)
2012 Science/Engineering Journalism “Boot Camp”
on
COMPUTATIONAL ASTRONOMY: FROM PLANETS TO COSMOS
June 24-27, 2012

**Preliminary** Agenda (as of June 1, 2012)

Unless noted, every 60-minute session will consist of a 45-minute “mini-course”
followed by 15 minutes of active Q&A and discussion;
all speakers below are confirmed, but times, topics, and titles are subject to change

 

	Sunday, June 24
Afternoon	Arrival at Mission Inn, Santa Cruz, CA; check-in starts at 3:30 PM
5:00-8:30 PM	Afternoon get-acquainted reception and early dinner, hosted by UC-HiPACC director Joel R. Primack and his wife, science writer and editor Nancy E. Abrams, at their home at 575 High Street in Santa Cruz (same street as the main entrance to UCSC), home phone 831-425-1194 (directions and maps in Appendix I on page 25)
	Monday, June 25
7:45 AM	Deluxe continental breakfast, UCSC (Alumni Rm., University Ctr.)
8:15–8:30	“Welcome to the Computational Astronomy Journalism Boot Camp and to UC-HiPACC; Logistic Tips”  – Trudy E. Bell, Senior Writer, UC-HiPACC
8:30–8:45	“Introduction: How and Why Computation is Transforming Astronomy” – Joel R. Primack, Director, UC-HiPACC, UCSC [slides] [video]
8:45–9:45	“Bigger is Better: Trends in Super Super Data” – Michael L. Norman, Director, San Diego Supercomputer Center, UCSD [slides] [Norman (1996)][video]
9:45–10:15	Coffee break
10:15–11:15	Instrumentation: “The Secrets of Adaptive Optics” – Claire E. Max, Director, Center for Adaptive Optics, UCSC [slides][video]
11:15–12:15 PM	“Probing Nature’s Highest Energy Particle Accelerators” – Brenda Dingus, Los Alamos National Lab (PI, High Altitude Water Cerenkov detector) [slides][video]
12:15–12:45	Picnic lunch on terrace (provided)
12:45–1:00	Intro to University of California Observatory Instrument Labs - Raja GuhaThakurta, Professor, UCSC[slides] [video] & Donald T. Gavel, Director, Laboratory for Adaptive Optics (UCO/Lick) [slides][video]
1:00–2:30	Walking to and tour of on-campus UCO Instrument Laboratories
2:30 – 3:30	“Probing the Galactic Planetary Census: Methods for Discovering and Characterizing Exoplanets – Gregory P. Laughlin, UCSC (Professor, Astronomy and Astrophysics)[slides][video]
3:30 – 4:30	“Intuition and Common Sense Foiled Again: Supercomputers Reveal Surprising Neutrino Behavior in Collapsing Stars and Supernovae” – George M. Fuller, UCSD [slides][video]
4:30–5:00	Iced tea break and GROUP PHOTOGRAPH (weather permitting)
5:00–6:00	“Cosmology and the Milky Way” – James S. Bullock, UCI [slides] [video]
6:00–7:00	Break (long enough to allow time for a brisk walk on campus)
7:00 PM	Reception and banquet on campus
	Keynote talk: [TITLE TK] Speaker: Sandra M. Faber, UCSC [slides][video]
	Tuesday, June 26
7:45 AM	Deluxe continental breakfast, UCSC (Alumni Rm., University Ctr.)
8:15–8:30	Announcement of logistics for the Wednesday 6/27 field trip
8:30–9:30	“Filling the Cosmos with (Virtual) Stars” – Mark Krumholz, UCSC(Assistant Professor, Astronomy and Astrophysics) [slides][video]
9:30–9:45	Coffee break
9:45–10:45	“How the Universe Evolved from Smooth to Lumpy: The Formation of Galaxies and Massive Black Holes” – Eliot Quataert, UCB (Thomas and Alison Schneider Chair in Physics; Director of the Theoretical Astrophysics Center) [slides][video]
10:45–11:45	“Dark Matter and Dark Energy: Working with the Dark Side to Discover the Ultimate Fate of the Universe” – Kim Griest, UCSD (Professor of Physics) [slides][video]
11:45 AM–12:45 PM	Buffet lunch (provided)
12:45–1:45	“The Cosmic Dawn: Illuminating a Dark Universe” – Steven Furlanetto, UCLA (Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy) [slides][video]
1:45–2:45	“Searching for Dark Matter Particles on Earth and in Space” – Manoj Kaplinghat, UCI [slides] [video]
2:45–3:15	Iced tea break (and group photograph if weather did not cooperate on Monday)
3:15–4:15	“A Concise Tour of Astronomical Simulations and Visualizations” – Joel R. Primack, UCSC [slides] [video]
4:15–4:30	Brief leg-stretching break; DISTRIBUTE EVALUATION FORMS
4:30–6:00	“News from Deep Space! A Journalism Roundtable Discussion on Covering Astronomy” – Discussion led by Robert Irion, UCSC (Director, Science Communication Program)[slides][video]
Dinner	On your own in downtown Santa Cruz (recommend purchasing breakfast items for the Weds. field trips)
	Wednesday, June 27 – Field trips
Early morning	Check out of Mission Inn. Breakfast on your own. Drive own rental car to NASA Ames Research Center (directions and maps in appendix).
9:30–9:45 AM	Arrive at NASA Ames, Moffett Field, Mr. View, for ID badging
10:00–11:30 AM	Behind-the-scenes tour of  NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division
12:00 PM	Depart NASA Ames. Drive to California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, San Francisco
1:00 PM	Lunch at Cal Academy [DETAILS TO COME]. Tour of digital visualization studio at Morrison Planetarium. See current planetarium show Earthquake! Private screening of LIFE: A Cosmic Story
Evening	Dinner on your own in San Francisco [DETAILS TO COME]
DEPARTURE	(participants make hotel and/or departure arrangements)