Physics major attended the 221st Meeting of American Astronomical Society

Physics major, Shouvik Bhattacharya attended the 221st Meeting of American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, Calif., Jan. 6-10. American Astronomical Society is the major organization for professional astronomers in North America. Although the meeting’s target audience are PhD’s, postdocs and scientists, a large number of undergraduates participated in this meeting. Bhattacharya attended a reception for undergraduates physics and astronomy majors on Sunday, Jan. 6. He said, “It was a very good learning experience, as I interacted with many professors about my graduate school applications. All of them were very positive and encouraging.”

Bhattacharya presented his summer internship work done at American Institute of Physics on Tuesday, January 8. His talk was “Connecting Physics Bachelors to Their Dream Jobs”. In his words, “ I was scheduled to present at “Innovation in teaching, learning and mentoring” session on Tuesday, Jan. 8. I was nervous because I was the youngest member who presented in this slot. The talk went well. Many schools are actively engaging with their Physics and Astronomy majors beyond classroom and research. For example, University of Colorado, Boulder promoted how their career and graduate school bounded workshops had been helping their students to do well both academically and professionally.”

Bhattacharya attended five plenary sessions and a few dissertation sessions on Cosmology and Observational Astrophysics during his stay in Long Beach, California. His trip was sponsored by the National Society of Physics Students, which is a sister organization of American Institute of Physics.