Program

Friday, April 25, 2025


Start: 9:00 a.m.
End: 5:30 p.m.

9:00–10:00 a.m. – Poster Session 1Coffee – NCSA Atrium/Lobby

  • Poster Interactions
  • VR Demos
  • Advanced Visualization Demos

10:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. – Session 1: PlenaryProf. Joaquin Vieira, CAPS Director – NCSA Auditorium

  • 10:00 a.m. – Opening Remarks — Prof. Joaquin Vieira, Astronomy/NCSA and Physics
  • 10:10 a.m. – Science Talk — “A Journey to the Center of a Neutron Star,” Prof. Jacquelyn Noronha-Hostler, Physics
  • 10:35 a.m. – Science Talk — “Simulating a galaxy,” Prof. Kirk Barrow, Astronomy
  • 11:00 a.m. – Science Talk — “Changing Galaxies,” Prof. Decker French, Astronomy
  • 11:25 a.m. – Science Talk — “Visualizing the Universe,” Prof. Matthew Turk, School of Information Sciences and Astronomy
  • 11:50 a.m. – Alum Talk — “From the Morrow Plots to the Atacama Desert,” Dr. Phil Jewell, National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO)
  • 12:30 p.m. – Closing Remarks

12:35–1:30 p.m. – Lunch – NCSA Atrium/Lobby

1:30–3:00 p.m. – Session 2: Lightning Talks – NCSA Auditorium

3:00–3:05 p.m. – Group Photo – NCSA Atrium/Auditorium

3:05–4:00 p.m. – Poster Session 2Coffee – NCSA Atrium/Lobby

  • Poster Interactions
  • VR Demos
  • Advanced Visualization Demos

4:00–5:30 p.m. – Session 3: Parallels

  • How to Get Into Grad Schools, Maggie Verrico, U. Illinois – NCSA 1040 (Slides)
    • Dr. Veronica Dike, U. Illinois
    • Prof. Decker French, U. Illinois
    • Thinh Nguyen, U. Illinois
    • Padma Venkatraman, U. Illinois
  • Life After Grad School, Dr. Kedar Phadke, U. Illinois – NCSA Auditorium
    • Dr. Phil Jewell, NRAO
    • Dr. Jennifer Li, NCSA
    • Dr. Andrew Manning, NCSA
  • AI+Astro, Prof. Gautham Narayan, Astronomy/NCSA – NCSA 1030
    • Prof. Matias Carrasco Kind, U. Illinois
    • Prof. William Moses, U. Illinois
    • Prof. Noelle Samia, Northwestern University
    • Dr. Laura Trouille, Adler Planetarium (remote)

AstroFest 2025
Email: aehaken@illinois.edu