Events - Event View

ATMoB Business Meeting and Rachel Freed's Presentation. Zoom online meeting.

This month's speaker is Rachel Freed. Rachel is a co-founder and the President of the Institute for Student Astronomical Research (InStAR) with a goal of incorporating scientific research into high school and undergraduate education. Rachel's presentation is titled Astronomy - From Passion to Profession and will focus on how she turned her passion for astronomy into a profession and the role that being involved with amateur astronomy organizations played in that. She will discuss her astronomy outreach, astronomy research and publication programs, global participation, and her role on editorial committees and boards.

Rachel Freed has over 20 published papers, mostly with student co-authors. Rachel is a faculty lecturer in the School of Education at Sonoma State University and on the Science Organizing Committee for the annual conference on Robotic Telescopes, Student Research, and Education (RTSRE). Freed also has a B.S. degree in Biology from the University of California at Davis and a M.S. in Neuroscience from Northwestern University. She is currently working on a PhD in astronomy education. She taught high school chemistry and astronomy for 10 years and has conducted research on chemistry education. She has been an amateur astronomer for over 20 years and is involved in public outreach. Rachel has been a volunteer docent at the Robert Ferguson Observatory in Sonoma County for 12 years. She is also the editor of the Journal of Double Star Observations, and on the board of the Advanced Imaging Conference. Rachel's work focuses on promoting changes in education that build on students' intrinsic motivations and interests.