Chelen Johnson
Hertzsprung-Russel diagram for Active Galactic Nuclei (HR4AGN): Using space and ground based ultraviolet, optical, and infrared images to find a correlation between the color and luminosity of gas emission and dust emission around supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies.
I was much more comfortable approaching people presenting their posters. Last year I felt like I was in way over my head. This year I felt like I fit in just fine, I knew so much more and had the confidence to speak freely about what I didn’t understand. I realized that no one understands all of it, but becoming an expert at one thing gives you the confidence and motivation to learn more.
My students were really impressed when I gave them just a summary of some of the stuff we did and saw [at the AAS]!
Honestly, I left [the 2013 AAS] a bit more in love with astronomy. I just plain had fun wandering and treated myself to time as a learner. It is not often we, educators, get to slide out of expert mode and into learner mode.