[Grad-postdoc-assn] [Postdocs] Thompson Lecture Series from Nov. 15th to Nov. 17th, 2011

[Wei-Yu Chang]

Dear all,

     Prof. Shadia R. Habbal (nominated by Hui Tian) from Institute for 
Astronomy, University of Hawaii, will be our next
Thompson Lecturer, and will come to NCAR from November 15th to November 
17th, 2011. Prof. S. R. Habbal, the current Chair
of Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society, current 
Faculty Chair of Institute for Astronomy at the
University of Hawaii, and the former Chaired Professor in 
Solar-Terrestrial Physics at the University of Wales, is a
leading scientist in solar and space physics. She worked also as one 
year ASP term at NCAR (1977-1978).

     Prof. Habbal has over 100 publications in major refereed journals, 
she has explored scientific problems in a very
broad range of topics, notably coronal heating and solar wind origin. 
Prof. Habbal was one of the three editors of JGR-space
physics (2002-2006), editor of several books, and member of more than 10 
scientific committees (e.g. Solar Probe Advisory
Panel, NASA Space Physics Subcommittee). She has received many awards 
such as the prestigious Arab Thought Foundation Pioneer
award (2004), NASA group achievement award (2000), Adventurous Women 
Lecture Series Award (1998).


     Prof. Habbal is very easy to talk to and she is always willing to 
give advice to young scientists. She speaks English,
French, and Arabic fluently, with some elementary knowledge of German. 
More information can be found at
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/users/shadia/ .


The agenda for her visit can be found on the NCAR wiki: 
https://wiki.ucar.edu/display/aspthompson08/Home

We will have FOUR major events: 1) two seminars, 2) two roundtable 
discussions, 3) Potluck dinner and 4) individual meeting. The detail 
information are listed as follow.


FIRST, SEMINAR

1) general audience seminar: Nov. 15th, 11:00 - 12:30 PM (11:00 - 12:00: 
Lecture, 12:00 - 12:30: Questions ), at ML Main Seminar Room.

     Abstract 1 for general audience: Scientific Discoveries from a 
Fleetingly Disappearing Sun

     The discovery of the solar corona would not have been possible 
without the advent of  total solar eclipses, which occur at most once 
every year, and last at most a
few minutes. Conceivably, the history of astronomical discoveries and 
space exploration would have followed a different path in the absence of 
total solar eclipses. It
wasn't until the beginning of the 19th century that the corona was 
established as an extension of the solar atmosphere beyond the visible 
photosphere. The advent of
imaging and spectroscopy around that time period marked the dawn of 
scientific explorations of the solar corona, and led to the discovery, 
almost a century later, that
the dominant coronal emission was characteristic of hot gases at 
temperatures exceeding a million degrees.  With the invention of the 
coronagraph by B. Lyot in 1930,
and the dawn of space exploration in the early 1960's, total solar 
eclipses were no longer the sole opportunities available for remote 
sensing of the corona through imaging
and spectroscopy. Nevertheless, eclipse observations continued to offer 
unique opportunities for scientific discoveries. This talk will focus on 
the scientific breakthroughs
made with total solar eclipse observations, and on the discoveries from 
recent eclipse observations, enabled by advanced digital recording 
technologies and image
processing capabilities.

2) Science seminar:Nov. 16th, 03:30 - 05:00 PM (03:30 - 04:30: Lecture, 
04:30 - 05:00: Questions ), at CG South Auditorium.

     Abstract 2 for specialized audience: Insights into the Quiescent 
and Dynamic Large Scale Structures of the Solar Corona from Eclipse 
Observations

     Images of the corona taken during total solar eclipses are 
snapshots of the state of the corona within the few minutes of totality. 
Such observations capitalize on the
diagnostic properties of the visible and near infrared wavelength range, 
in particular, emission from broadband white light and coronal forbidden 
lines, which include a
number of ionized states of Fe, and other elements such as Ni and Ca, to 
name a few. These images offer unique perspectives into the quiescent 
and dynamic large scale
structures of the corona and their thermodynamic properties, starting 
from the solar surface out to a few solar radii. Despite the abundance, 
at present, of uninterrupted
space-based broadband white light and extreme ultraviolet observations, 
with high spatial and temporal cadence, much can still be learned from 
the short duration of
eclipse observations that is not possible from space. An overview of the 
novel results that have emerged from recent eclipse observations will be 
presented, with particular
emphasis on the role of prominences in the quiescent and dynamic state 
of coronal structures.


SECOND, ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION: one on CAREER and one on SCIENCE.

1) Career discussion: Nov. 15th, 08:30 - 10:30 AM at ML Damon Room
2) Science discussion: Nov. 17th 09:00 - 10:30 AM at EOL Atrium


THIRD, POTLUCK DINNER

On the evening of Nov. 15th, we will have a Potluck dinner at the Mesa 
lab Damon Room with Prof. Habbal (starting at 5:30 pm).
To facilitate planning, please let Alex (ajahn at ucar.edu 
<http://mailman.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/grad-postdoc-assn>) know if 
you'll come and if you'll bring someone (families welcome!)
before Nov. 8st. And to make sure we have a good variety of food to eat, 
please list what dish you'd like to bring on the wiki, also before
Nov. 8th.

https://wiki.ucar.edu/display/aspthompson08/Shadia+Habbal+potluck+%28Wednesday+16.+November+2011%29

FOURTH, INDIVIDUAL MEETING

     The rest of Prof. Habbal visit will be devoted to individual 
meetings with postdocs at NCAR. These meetings (30 minutes long)
are a great opportunity to meet renowned scientists. And even if Prof. 
Habbal is in a very different field than you, don't be
afraid to sign up, because the speakers we invite normally have a 
breadth of interests and can also offer you interesting insights
on career development. So rush to sign up for a meeting, we only have 16 
spots. You can sign up here:
https://wiki.ucar.edu/display/aspthompson08/Shadia+Habbal+individual+meetings 



Please let us know if you have any questions or suggestions,

The TLS Committee
Alexandra, Christoph, Gulnur, Nick, Shanlin, Vanessa, Wei-Yu
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