Outreach

I have been part of several outreach programs over the years. I strongly believe that public outreach is something that should be included as part of any astronomer’s life. What good is the knowledge that we learn from our hard-work investigations when we don’t share it with the general public. More importantly, I see public outreach as an opportunity to make people not just educated on what we do, but also spark that motivation/curiosity in people’s mind to appreaciate and/or pursue STEM. I hope that during these many years I inspired some to explore a life in STEM: be it in academia or industry. Below are the various outreach programs that I have been involved with. You can also click the posts at the bottom of this page for more information about specific programs.

Short 1 minute interview with [Charles “Chuck” Liu]{https://www.youtube.com/@TheLIUniverse} at the COSMOS Team Meeting 2023 – Rochester Institute of Technology

  • Grand Opening of KID Museum – Bethesda, MD – Robotics & Drones Exhibitor
    • Date: 21 – 22 May 2022
    • Description: Led an Exhibit on Robotics and Drones and how to program them. Partnered with Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering of Univ. of Maryland
  • AST Graduate Skills Seminar – Rochester Institute of Technology – Career Panelist
    • Date: 1 Oct 2021
    • Description: Discussion of how to succeed in the Postdoc Job Market
  • Virtual Science Night & Career Panel – Ramona High School in Riverside, CA – Lecturer & Career Panelist
    • Date: 10 Febr 2021
    • Description: Providing mini science lectures and career advice for local students
  • What is an Astronomer? – Early Childhood Learning Center in Irvine, CA – Guest Lecturer
    • Date: 3 June 2019
    • Description: Public talk for Preschoolers
  • Public Telescope Viewing – University of California, Riverside – Telescope Operator
    • Date: 20 Febr 2018
    • Description: Public event for Riverside community. Operated telescopes and answered questions
  • Press Release: ``Distant galaxies glow bright in oxygen’‘
    • Date: Oct 2016
    • Paper: Khostovan et al. (2016)
    • Description: Distributed to UCRToday, Lancaster, Astronomy Now, My Science, and other science media sources
  • Long Night of Arts and Innovation – Downtown Riverside, CA – Volunteer Exhibitor
    • Date: Oct 2015 & 2017
    • Description: Large event hosted by City of Riverside. Interact with community, answer questions, and operate telescopes
  • Cosmic Thursday – University of California, Riverside – Volunteer Organizer & Telescope Operator
    • Date: 2014 – 2016 (monthly)
    • Description: Helped organize event for Guest Faculty Lecturer. Setup & Operate Telescopes and answer questions
  • Physics of Music – University of California, Irvine – Musician & Guest Lecturer
    • Date: Spring 2013
    • Description: Presented Iranian instruments and discussed the underlying physics for a UC Irvine non-majors Physics course