From: <Tony.Wong_at_email.protected>
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 18:42:29 +1000

Kate,

Perhaps we can defer this discussion until we see what kind of abstracts we
get for the education session. Career paths are interesting and will get
more postgrad students to attend the session, but first person testimonials
are most compelling. So I would encourage you to "invite" Paul Brooks to
speak (though we probably can't subsidize his attendance), given that he
seems to have a good story to tell, and there are few if any other
opportunities for him to tell it to an audience of astronomers.

What I'd really love to see in the education session is for someone to
present a multimedia tool that can do for astronomy education what Google
Maps has done for geography. Maybe the folks at Swinburne are on the right
track?

Hmm, maybe we should get a former astronomer working at Google to present
two talks. :)

--Tony

P.S. If I can go off on a bit of a tangent, I think it would be great to get
a young Aussie-trained astronomer working overseas to come back to give an
invited talk at *each* ASA. Not only do we hear about cutting-edge research
which probably began in Australia, but we could offer them the opportunity
(e.g. in an education session) to comment on what they think of the training
they received here. If some of my dues went to subsidize an invitation for
someone like Lisa Kewley to attend the ASA, I would consider it money well
spent. I think we would also realise that the majority of great PhDs we are
producing are women and it's time we had a Men in Astronomy session!!

P.P.S. Remember, the success of AAS meetings depends to a large extent on
the Prize Lectures and headline talks.

-- 
==================================================================
Tony Wong, ARC-CSIRO Linkage Postdoctoral Fellow
CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility        +61-2-9372-4399
School of Physics, University of New South Wales   +61-2-9385-5470
E-mail: Tony.Wong_at_csiro.<!--nospam-->au
FAX: +61-2-9372-4310
URL: http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/twong
==================================================================
> From: Kate Brooks <Kate.Brooks_at_csiro.<!--nospam-->au>
> Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 10:23:00 +1000
> To: <asa2006-soc_at_atnf.<!--nospam-->csiro.au>
> Subject: Idea for Education Session
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> Regarding the Education session:
> 
> I was speaking with Helen Sim yesterday (ATNF's/AAO Public Relations
> and Media Liaison officer). She suggested that the Education session
> includes a focus on those graduates who have completed a PhD in
> astrophysics and then moved on to other disciplines. She argues that in
> the past these people were  swept under the rug by the astronomy
> community and often considered as failures. Thankfully this attitude
> is changing (albeit slowly). As we see from the Decadal Plan case study
> on Dr Paul Brooks, a PhD in astrophysics can be a great launching pad
> for successful careers in the industry sector.  This fact is often
> overlooked when encouraging students to embark on a PhD in astrophysics
> and yet it can be used in a positive way to counter-act the bleak
> permanent job prospects in astronomy in Australia.  Helen suggests we
> highlight a couple of such case studies in the education session. For
> example we could ask Paul Brooks to give a talk about his career path
> and what skills he gained from completing a PhD in astrophysics.  I
> really like this idea and think it would appeal to the ASA audience.
> What do you think?
> 
> I am sure we could come up with a list of numerous PhD graduates in
> astrophysics who are now success stories in other disciplines.
> 
> Kate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> Dr Kate Brooks   
> Australia Telescope National Facility
> PO Box 76 Epping NSW 1710 Australia
> Phone: +61 2 9372 4683
> Fax: +61 2 9372 4310
> Kate.Brooks_at_csiro.<!--nospam-->au
> http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/Kate.Brooks
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> 

Received on 2006-04-27 18:43:46