Committee
Steering Committee:
EPOC activities are overseen by a Steering Committee comprising the following members/roles:
- Chair.
- An immediate past Chair (when relevant).
- An ASA Council Member chosen by the ASA Council as an ex-officio EPOC Steering Committee Member (unless an EPOC Steering Committee Member is already a member of the ASA Council).
- A broadly representative Steering Committee of up to six people, elected by full members of the ASA.
- A Student Representative elected by the student members of the ASA.
- A Secretary appointed from the Steering Committee (responsible for minutes of the meetings, circulation of the minutes to the membership, and organization of the elections).
- A Treasurer appointed from the Steering Committee (responsible for managing the income and expenditure of EPOC and for providing an annual report of such activity to the membership).
Following a call for nominations for these positions, and election by members of the ASA, the EPOC Steering Committee was established on 28 September 2011.
EPOC Chair – 2-year position
Christopher Fluke
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I am a Senior Lecturer with the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, which I joined in 1999. Following completion of my PhD on Weak Gravitational Lensing, I was the foundation manager of Swinburne’s astronomy animation group, which has now evolved into Swinburne Astronomy Productions. I serve as the Centre’s public outreach coordinator, which includes responsibility for running the 3D Astrotour outreach program. I have over ten years of experience with presenting astronomy to diverse audiences of all ages. As an astronomy educator, I teach an online unit on the History of Astronomy, and have published several papers on learning and scholarship of teaching in astronomy. I believe that the new EPOC has an opportunity to further enhance the quality of astronomy education and public outreach in Australia. |
ASA Council Representative
| John O’Byrne |
I am an Associate Professor and Associate Head (Teaching and Learning) in the School of Physics at the University of Sydney. I have worked in Australia and the US exploring my interests in how to achieve high resolution using ground-based optical telescopes, most recently in the field of Astrophotonics. Some of my research and students are associated with the Sydney University Physics Education Research (SUPER) group. I am a Secretary of the Astronomical Society of Australia, the society of professional astronomers in Australia.
I coordinated first year physics for six years and am now responsible for the entire teaching program in the School, as well as continuing to teach physics and astronomy at various levels. This includes running other physics-related units for education and radiography students. I have won several university and national teaching awards. Apart from lecturing and running laboratory courses in physics and astronomy to undergraduate students, for over 20 years I conducted astronomy courses for adults, including tours to observatories in NSW. Although I have now passed this on, I still run the viewing nights associated with these courses. I am a frequent speaker to the public, schools groups, local astronomy societies and at university student information events. I have been an author or consultant editor for several popular science and astronomy books, for both adults and children, including the “Skywatching” series and “The illustrated Atlas of the Universe”. I am also an author of the new HSC physics text ‘in2 PHYSICS’. |
Steering Committee Member – 2-year positions
Helen Sim
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I perform media liaison and public relations roles for the national radio and optical observatories, CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science and the Australian Astronomical Observatory. In 2009 I was the Australian coordinator for the International Year of Astronomy. I have qualifications in physics, public relations, and the history and sociology of science, and I’m a member of the Australian Science Communicators. The Australian astronomy community is a strong and growing one, and I believe the new structure for EPOC will help it to better communicate that success to the wider public. |
Jonathon Nally
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I have made a career out of communicating astronomy to the public for the past 27 years. I founded and edited Australia’s first popular-level astronomy magazine, Sky & Space, and was founder editor of Australian Sky & Telescope magazine. I have had experience with arranging astronomy public events, large and small, in both city and rural areas, and have given numerous public talks (beginning way back in the days of Comet Halley!). For the past 20 years I have made regular appearances on radio and television programmes aimed at both adult and young audiences, eg. The Science Show on ABC Radio National (a somewhat scientifically literate audience) and the Today Show on Channel 9 (a very lay audience), to give two current examples. I presently operate an astronomy and space exploration news web site, SpaceInfo.com.au. I had the honour of being awarded the ASA’s inaugural David Allen Prize for exceptional achievement in astronomy communication, and I am now on the judging panel for the Prize. I have had a lifelong passion for expanding the public’s understanding of astronomy (and science in general), and I look forward to promoting the achievements of Australia’s astronomical community in the exciting years ahead. |
Rob Hollow
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I am the outreach education specialist with CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science with over 25 years experience in astronomy education and outreach. Prior to working with CSIRO I was a high school physics teacher in NSW and involved with curriculum development and gifted and talented students. My current position involves me running teacher professional development across Australia and overseas. I am the national coordinator for the Galileo Teacher Training Program, the education lead and Coordinator for the innovative PULSE@Parkes program run by CSIRO and consultant to other programs including the Space2Grow program. As coordinator for the CASS Summer Vacation Program I am also aware of the issues facing undergraduates as they consider postgraduate studies in astronomy. I look forward to contributing to EPOC during an exciting time with the advent of a new Australian Curriculum and the development of major new astronomical facilities such as ASKAP. |
Steering Committee Member – 1-year positions
Andrew Jacob
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I have been working as Acting Curator of Astronomy at Sydney Observatory since Jan 2010. I have worked as a night-guide at Sydney Observatory since 1992 presenting astronomy programs to students of all ages and the general public. I coordinate and teach the Night-Viewing component of the Sydney University first-year astronomy course and in most years also present the course tutorials. I present a series of WEA adult-education lectures on basic astronomy each year. As Curator I have had extensive exposure in the print, radio and television media for popular astronomical events, produced several media releases and post blogs on the Observatory’s website. I was involved in writing the EPOC factsheet for Laser Pointers. I received my PhD from the University of Sydney in 2008 for observations of Cepheids with the Sydney University Stellar Interferometer. |
Michael Burton
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I am a Professor in the School of Physics at the University of New South Wales, active in both teaching and research. I recently stepped down from serving for 5 years as the School’s First Year Director, with responsibility for introducing ~2,000 students each year to the delights of university physics, a task which presented some interesting challenges in the delivery of education. My research centres on observational infrared and millimetre-wave astronomy applied to the mysteries of star formation across our Galaxy, and provides a source of inspiration for many of the outreach activities I have conducted. I was one of the co-founders of Science in the Pub, which ran for 5 year and around 70 editions a decade ago. I instigated the Astronomy on the Go outreach program for the Sydney IAU General Assembly. This featured three astro-tours of regional NSW, converging on Sydney for the GA itself, with over 100 events and performances. These were mostly delivered by undergraduate and postgraduate students, all trained in the multifarious skills of science infotainment. For the Year of Physics I ran a similar program around Sydney high schools explaining the science behind Einstein’s great papers of 2005. Research scientists have a responsibility to try explain their work across a wide range of audiences. Astronomers are fortunate in having a field that inspires. Given a growing mis-trust in science and scientists across our society, despite its critical part in shaping it, we may use our expertise to try and restore respect for the methods of science for deciding on the best course for charting our future. |
Jonathon Kocz
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I am a postdoc at the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, primarily developing techniques for radio frequency interference mitigation. I completed my PhD at Mt Stromlo Observatory, and I have Engineering and IT degrees from ANU. As a PhD student I was one of a fantastic team of founding members of the Mt Stromlo schools outreach program, in which school groups from Canberra come to the Observatory in the evenings to learn about astronomy and do some amateur observing. I also gave several talks at a local school about careers in science. At Swinburne I am part of the AstroTour team, giving presentations to school groups, professional organisations, and the general public, including an evening of AstroTours as part of the 1st Birthday of the Royal Institute Australia (RiAus) in Adelaide. The first response I normally receive if I tell someone I’m an astronomer is a variation of: “wow, that must be so interesting.” We have the advantage that people actually want to hear us talk about our work. I think it is imperative we encourage this interest through both education and outreach. |
Student Member – 1-year position
Jacinta Delhaize
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Hi everyone! I’m a PhD student at the University of Western Australia and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR). I mainly study neutral hydrogen gas and its role in galaxy evolution. I think public outreach is incredibly important and it’s one of my passions. Supported by ICRAR’s outreach staff I participate in many science outreach initiatives around the state and country. My favourite is the ‘Travelling Scientist’ program. This allows me to travel out to rural and remote towns in WA where I talk to primary and secondary school students about my work in astronomy and studying science at university. I also give public lectures about the SKA/ASKAP projects and assist in community observing events. The people I come across on my outreach adventures are always fascinated by what we do as astronomers, and it’s a great hook to inspire interest in science, maths and engineering. There are so many fantastic astronomy-related outreach events happening around Australia and I would love the opportunity to help facilitate these activities in any way I can. |
Election of Steering Committee Members:
- The Chair holds office for two years.
- Steering Committee Members will hold office for two years with staggered tenure (in the first year of operation, three Members will be elected for 1-year periods, and three Members will elected for 2-year periods).
- Three Members of the Steering Committee will be elected annually.
- The Student Representative will be elected annually.
- There is no limit on the number of consecutive appointments of the Chair, Steering Committee Members or Student Representative.
- By 1 March each year, the Chair will call for nominations for relevant Steering Committee positions.
- Only full members are entitled to vote in all ballots and elections of EPOC. Student members are entitled to vote for a student representative on the steering committee. Elections will be conducted by March 15 and the result declared in time for the new Chair and Steering Committee to take up their appointments by 1 April.
- Election of all Steering Committee Members will be determined by the direct count of the number of votes obtained by each candidate for a given position. In the event of a tied vote the President of the ASA following consultation with the ASA Council, will have a casting vote. In the event of the President of the ASA being involved as a candidate in the tied vote, the casting vote will pass to another member of the ASA Executive, as per the ASA constitution.
Activities
- The Steering Committee will maintain an e-mail list of the current EPOC members.
- The Steering Committee undertakes to organize and run an annual open lunchtime Meeting during the ASA Annual Scientific Meeting, and other meetings when appropriate.
- EPOC will establish and maintain a website that encourages dissemination of relevant information relating to astronomy education and public outreach opportunities, including the publication of Members Reports.
- From time to time, EPOC will produce Factsheets on topics of current astronomical interest of particular relevance to Australia. The Steering Committee will appoint one of its members to coordinate the development of Factsheets, which encompasses collating submissions and sending out for comments, additions, and amendments as required. Topics for Factsheets will be invited from the EPOC membership, under the proviso that a Member proposing a Factsheet is also able to write the Factsheet or can nominate an appropriate author.
Follow this link for the Factsheets. - EPOC will run other activities as approved by the Steering Committee.
Meetings:
- The Steering Committee will hold a minimum of two meetings per year, ideally in Feb/Mar and Nov/Dec.
- It is the role of the Chair (or nominated representative) to organize the date of each meeting and to request agenda items.
- At least two working days prior to the Meeting the Chair (or nominated representative) will distribute the Agenda to Steering Committee members.
- Minutes will be taken by a nominated representative and provided to Steering Committee Members as soon as possible following the Meeting. A copy of the Minutes will be provided to the ASA Council, and will be made available to EPOC members via the EPOC e-mail list and on the EPOC website.
- The Chair will normally act as Chair of the Steering Committee Meeting, however, if the Chair is not able to attend in person, a nominated representative may act as Chair.
- Whenever possible, Steering Committee Meetings will be held at a location in a capital city that has teleconference facilities, however, virtual involvement (via Skype, teleconference, or other method) will be accepted and encouraged.
Reporting:
- The Chair will provide a brief report describing EPOC activities to Secretary of ASA Council, if possible, at least one week before each Council meeting.
- The Steering Committee will solicit regular Reports from Members, which will be published on the EPOC website.
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