Recent & Upcoming Talks

This talk was given as part of a weekly lunch talk for the undergraduates in the Aggie Scholarships for Technology Advancements in Astronomical Research (AggieSTAAR) program. In it, I gave an overview of the atomic physics of HII regions and how we use that to study, in particular, the abundances of HII regions. Some information about the SIGNALS collaboration was given as an application.

An invited review talk at the SIGNALS workshop about HII regions, pockets of gas ionized by hot stars. In this talk, I give an overview of the work that has been done about HII regions as well as many ideas for future work within SIGNALS.

An invited presentation about my work investigating the correlation between the ionization parameter and oxygen abundance in NGC 628.

Who was Charles Messier and why did he write down a catalog of things that aren’t comets? What is in his catalog and can you observe them all in a single night? I’ll explain all in this talk about Messier and his catalog!

An invited seminar talk about the collaboration SIGNALS. Using data from the SIGNALS survey and the SITELLE spectrograph, I highlight how we analyze HII regions to study their physical properties, kinematics, and environmental influences.

What are star-forming regions? What do the different colors mean in the images from Hubble? This talk will answer those questions and more!

A talk given in honor of the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. This talk has been significantly updated from previous talks on the subject.

A poster presentation about my work investigating the correlation between the ionization parameter and oxygen abundance in NGC 628.

A public talk serving as an introduction to the night sky! Members of the Brazos Valley Astronomy Club will also be present to host a Star Party after the talk.

A brief 5-minute oral presentation to the Astronomy folks at TAMU about my work with local galaxies as part of the SIGNALS and HETDEX collaborations.

An oral presentation about my work investigating the correlation between the ionization parameter and oxygen abundance in NGC 628.

A poster presentation displaying ongoing work into the oxygen abundance and ionization parameter in NGC 628

A joint event between the local Friends of Chamber Music and the Bravos Valley Astronomy Club to celebrate the 2024 Great American Solar Eclipse.

A kid-friendly presentation about the total solar eclipse visible to Texans on April 8!

A general overview of my research into the correlation between ionization parameter and oxygen abundance for HII regions in the local universe using data from the SIGNALS project. This talk is meant for a general scientific audience composed of both astronomers and nuclear physicists.

Talking to the Brazos Valley Astronomy Club about the wonders of the night sky, told as a journey through history.

An invited talk at the CEFCA about my work on the stellar ages and spiral arm dynamics of M101.

An invited talk at the University of Toronto to talk about my PhD thesis work with narrowband imaging of M101.

A kid-friendly presentation about the annular solar eclipse visible to Texans on October 14!

Taking a look at the spatial and temporal size of the universe and adding my perspective on the story of astronomy.

A talk given to the community of Canton, OH about the history of interacting and peculiar galaxies and all that we know about them.

My PhD thesis defense summarizing the research and work I have done in the last five years as a PhD student in the Astronomy Department.

My PhD thesis but for a general audience.

A brief summary of what we know and don’t know about dark matter and how JWST will cause astronomers to rethink everything!

A talk given to the Undergraduate Research Society as part of their colloquium Journal Club series to get students exposed to research that might be of interest to them.

15-minute dissertation talk given to the AAS in January 2023.

Presentation of my second thesis project as a colloquium given to the Department of Physics & Astronomy at Oberlin College & Conservatory.

An invited talk about JWST as part of the Association for Continuing Education Lecture Day.

A presentation about the stories and myths that humanity has told about the Moon throughout time. This was part of the International Observe the Moon Night 2022 celebrations.

A talk given in honor of the 53rd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

A public talk serving as an introduction to the night sky!

Part of the Oceans of Possibilities Summer Program!

Part of the Ocean of Possibilities summer program!

Presentation of the completed work of my graduate thesis at a meeting of the LSST LSB Working Group.

A public talk serving as an introduction to the night sky!

A public talk answering the question, “What was the Star of Bethlehem?”

A public talk celebrating International Observe the Moon Night 2021!

A documentary about how we are all linked to the universe and each other.

Some comet tails & tales as part of the Andover Public Library 2021 Summer Reading program.

Presentation of my first graduate project, Searching for Extragalactic Star Formation in the M101 Group, at the 237th Meeting of the AAS as a virtual iPoster.

A talk given in conjunction with the International Women’s Air and Space Musem traveling exhibit.

A talk given in the Astronomy Department Journal Club about the science and observations of the interstellar object ‘Oumuamua.

A final talk by outgoing president Ray Garner about the politics of science and how we can combat growing anti-science sentiments.

Presentation of my REU project, Ionized Gas Kinematics of Nearby Low-Mass Galaxies, at Furman Engaged, an event showcasing students’ research projects.

In lieu of a true Messier Marathon, a presentation was given about Messier and the objects in his self-named catalog.

A public talk given by Dr. Eva Lilly from PanSTARRS about the search for near-Earth asteroids and how to protect humanity from them.

A presentation given to Astronomy Club members about how to become an astronaut.

Several telescopes were set up and people looked at the Moon and the major planets.

A presentation about the search for Planet X, both historically and presently.

Presentation of my REU project, Ionized Gas Kinematics of Nearby Low-Mass Galaxies, at the 231st Meeting of the AAS.

A presentation on all the astronomers we have to be thankful for and their discoveries.

Presentation of my REU project, Ionized Gas Kinematics of Nearby Low-Mass Galaxies, at the 3rd annual Southern Conference Undergraduate Research Forum.

A telling of the history and (predicted) future of the universe.

A planetarium show walking new members of the Astronomy Club through the night sky.

Watching the 2017 Great American Solar Eclipse from Furman University

A lecture given about the variety of moons in the solar system.

A Furman University Astronomy Club trip to PARI

A series of classroom visits to answer questions from students about astronomy, NASA, the solar system, and sending people to Mars.

A public talk given by Dr. Pamela Gay about how to be a part of citizen science research.

A public talk giving a general overview of the winter constellations