On May 22, UWIP hosted a talk with astrophysics Professor Kim Griest- one of our former professors- where we were exposed to his research on dark matter. Specifically, searching for primordial black hole dark matter with a Kepler satellite. Professor Griest’s entertaining presentation delved into the search for dark matter as well as his experience in transitioning his methods of finding dark matter. We were extremely excited to learn from our former professor again, and we will continue to look forward to learning more about his research in the future.

For more information about Professor Kim Griest, here is a link to his website:
http://www-physics.ucsd.edu/~griest/

On May 9 2014, the WIP and the UWIP clubs had a special guest, Jill Tarter, over for a private luncheon. Jill Cornell Tarter is an American astronomer and the outgoing director of the Center for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Research. Tarter received her undergraduate education at Cornell University, where she earned a Bachelor of Engineering Physics Degree, as well as both  a Master’s degree and PhD in astronomy from the University of California at Berkeley. Tarter has worked on a number of major scientific projects, most relating to the search for extraterrestrial life. The ladies were excited to have the opportunity to talk to Jill Tarter in such an intimate setting.

Topics brought up:

1) Long term science policy

2) Raising a family as a women scientist

3) Minority among classes

4) Bio-mechanical engineering, Big Data, Asteroid mining, Astronaut suits, Colonizing outer-space

Questions asked by students:

1) What was it like raising a family as a female women scientists.

2) How do you imagine extraterrestrial to look like

3) Tell us of a time you almost thought you found a signal.

4) If you could give us one piece of advice, which would would it be?