September 26, 2011

Welcome (back) to the new school year! Read below to learn about important Astronomy majors announcements and the various events happening in the Department. For those of you new to UW and/or to Astronomy, I send out an email once a week that has lots of important information. For random campus events and things that are not necessarily astronomy related, these get posted on the Page O'Announcements blog: http://pageoannouncements.blogspot.com/

Faculty Adviser: On behalf of the undergrads and the Department, I want to thank Dr. Chris Laws for serving as the faculty adviser this last year. Back from sabbatical and ready to advise, Dr. Paula Szkody is available to answer any questions you have about careers, grad school, research and much more!

Building Use Permits: If you have keys to the Physics/Astronomy Building, remember that you will need to pick up a new Building Use Permit for the fall quarter. New permits can be found on my desk and if I'm not around, ask anyone in the front office.

Astronomy Movie Night: Mark your calendars for Oct. 19 at 7pm for the Astronomy majors movie night. We'll watch a sci-fi flick of your choosing, pointing out obvious fails at using science while laughing and snacking. We'll meet in one of the lecture halls in the a-wing; exact room will be announced closer to the date.

Photos for the Undergrad Board: The undergrad photo directory board needs updating! Please send me a posting-appropriate photo and you'll be added to the board.

Astro Lunch: On Tuesday at Noon in B356A (aka the reading room) Katie Schlesinger (Ohio State Univ.) will give a talk on "The Metallicity Distribution Functions of Cool Stars in the SEGUE Survey". Join us for this informal lunch talk and feel free to bring your lunch!

Colloquium: This Thursday, join us for the State of the Department -- our annual address and departmental party. The State of the Department will start at 3:45pm in Phys/Astr A102. Next Thursday we'll start our "normal" colloquium series at 4pm.

Enjoy the first week of classes!

Best,
Sarah