Education Workshops

A workshop focusing upon Physics and Astronomy Education has been held annually in the fall for more than 20 years. A recurrent theme in our workshops is the use of instructional technology to improve our teaching of astronomy and physics. Our workshops will continue having choices for attendees and will endeavor to serve more teachers in western Nebraska in the future. All middle school, high school, and college instructors of either physics or astronomy are invited to participate. Educators interested in participating are encouraged to bookmark this page as workshops are promoted far in advance and registration is encouraged.

The Summits have 4 co-sponsoring organizations:

• UNL Department of Physics & Astronomy
• UNL Center for Science, Mathematics, & Computer Education
• NASA Nebraska Space Grant
• Nebraska Chapter of American Association of Physics Teachers

Upcoming Events

The next Nebraska Physics & Astronomy Fall Summit will be held on October 12, 2024 in Jorgensen Hall on the UNL city campus. One plenary speakers will be Christopher Orban (The Ohio State University) and Adam Houston (UNL). Additional details will be shared here as they become available.

Past Events

• A Nebraska Physics & Astronomy Fall Summit with speakers Dan Reichart of UNC and David Harwood of UNL was held on October 7, 2023.
• The following promotional materials are available: Friday Night Ruckman Presentation Flyer, Saturday Summit Flyer with registration information, the complete Saturday schedule, and the list of abstracts for all breakout and longer session abstracts.
• Photos for the day will be available soon.
• Zoom recordings for the plenaries are available on the Guest Speakers at UNL page.
• A Nebraska Physics & Astronomy Fall Summit with speakers Michael Lam of RIT and Clint Rowe of UNL was held on October 22, 2022.
• The following promotional materials are available: Friday Night Ruckman Presentation Flyer, Saturday Summit Flyer with registration information, the complete Saturday schedule, and the list of abstracts for all breakout and longer session abstracts.
• Photos for the day are available here for large group activities and here for breakout group activities.
• A YouTube video sumarizing the event is available here.
• An article summarizing Michael Lam's visit from the Nebraska News Service.
• Zoom recordings for the plenaries are available on the Guest Speakers at UNL page.

• A Nebraska Physics & Astronomy Fall Summit with guests Yoni Brande and Matt Vonk was held on October 16, 2021.
• The following promotional materials are available: Friday Night Ruckman Presentation Flyer, Saturday Plenaries Flyer, the complete Saturday schedule, and the list of abstracts for all breakout and longer session abstracts.
• Photos for the day are available here.
• Zoom recordings for the plenaries are available on the Guest Speakers at UNL page.
• The 19th annual Astronomy Education Workshop (and joint meeting with the Nebraska Chapter of the American Assocation of Physics Teachers) was held virtually on Saturday, October 24, 2020 in Zoom. Invited speakers included:
• Gay Stewart, West Virginia University -- Gay has been a leader in the training of future physics teachers for many years and will be sharing details with us regarding the Get the Facts Out program.
• Gail Zasowski, University of Utah & Britt Lundgren, UNC-Asheville -- Both Gail and Britt are leaders in the outreach efforts of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
• Andrew Duffy, Boston University -- Andrew has developed a substantial suite of html5 simulations in physics and astronomy that he guided us in using.


• The 18th Astronomy Education Workshop was held on Saturday, October 12, 2019 in Jorgensen Hall at UNL. It was a joint meeting with the Nebraska Chapter of the American Association of Physics Teachers. Invited speakers included:
• Robert Hilborn, Associate Executive Officer of the AAPT (bio available here). Bob informed us on developmenets in his research on gravitational physics and shared details with us regarding the "Living Physics Portal" -- a vast repository of teaching materials for IPLS (Introductory Physics for Life Science) students.
• Kathryn Williamson, Teaching Assistant Professor at West Virginia University (web site available here). Kathryn shared details with us on her work in Radio Astronomy and usage of the Skynet Robotic Telescope Network.
• A promotional flyer for the day is available here and a complete schedule for the day's events is available here. A list of abstracts for all of the day's events (inclucing breakout and longer sessions) is available here. All four presentations by these speakers are available on our Guest Speakers at UNL page. Photos are available:
• Large Group Activities
• Breakout & Longer Sessions


• The 17th Astronomy Education Workshop was held on Saturday, October 6, 2018 in Jorgensen Hall at UNL. It was a joint meeting with the Nebraska Chapter of the American Association of Physics Teachers.
• Our keynote speaker was citizen science expert Laura Trouille. Laura is the Director of Citizen Science at the Adler Planetarium and co-I of the Zooniverse Project. Laura's presentations are available on our Guest Speakers at UNL page and on YouTube:
• Laura's presentation in the UNL Union on October 5, 2018 is entitled "Unlocking Data through Zooniverse: Science with 1.7 Million Volunteers".
• Laura's presentation in Jorgensen Hall on October 6, 2018 is entitled "Bringing Citizen Science Zooniverse-based Research Experiences into Introductory Science Courses".
• UNL's Greg Snow delivered a presentation titled "The Detection of Gravitational Waves from the Merging of Very Massive Astrophysical Objects Extremely Far Away". The complete program is available here. A description of breakout sessions and workshops is available here.
• Pictures from the workshop are available in the following catetories:
  • Large Group Activites
  • Breakout Sessions
  • Longer Sessions
  • Hallway Offerings

• The 16th Astronomy Education Workshop was held Saturday, October 26, 2013 (a joint meeting with the N-AAPT). Guests included Beth Willman of Haverford College and Wendy Adams of the University of Northern Colorado.
• A complete schedule of the event is available here.


• The 15th Astronomy Education Workshop was held Saturday, 6, 2012. Guests included Jeff Wilkerson of Luther College and Brian Thomas of Washburn University.
• The complete program is available here.
• A description of breakout sessions and workshops is available here.
• A few photos from breakout sessions can be seen here.


• The 14th Astronomy Education Workshop was held Saturday, October 22, 2011. This was a joint meeting with the N-AAPT. Guests included Scott Ragan, Assistant Director of North Carolina State University's The Science House and Jason Wright, an extrasolar planet astronomer from Penn State.
  • A detailed schedule for the event is available here. A listing of breakout session abstracts is available here.
  • The workshop in photos can be seen here.


• The 13th Astronomy Education Workshop was held Saturday, October 9, 2010. Our guest speaker for this workshop was Dr. Travis Rector of the University of Alaska Anchorage.
• A detailed schedule for the event is available here


• The 12th Astronomy Education Workshop was held Saturday, October 3, 2009. This workshop featured Tyler Nordgren (University of Redlands), who spoke about bringing archeoastronomy into the classroom, and Dale Stille (University of Iowa), who helped give a presentation of astronomy related physics demos.
• A detailed schedule for the event is available here


• The 11th Astronomy Education Workshop was held on October 11, 2008 workshop with Pamela Gay of Southern Illinois University -- a well-known podcaster and expert on variable stars.
• A detailed schedule for the event is available here.


• Report on the November 3, 2007 Workshop (with author Phil Plait).
• A complete workshop agenda is available here.
• The Daily Nebraskan's article on Phil is available here.
• A flyer describing Phil's public talk can be found here.


• Report on the October 7, 2006 Workshop (with Terry Teays of the Maryland Space Grant).
• A complete workshop agenda is available here.
• Background information on Terry Teays is available here.
• Other Events by Terry Teays during his visit.


• Report on the October 15, 2005 Workshop. Guests included: Dr. Michelle Thaller (Research Scientist at the California Institute of Technology and Manager of the Spitzer Educational Public Outreach Program) & Tim Slater (Astronomy Education Guru from the University of Arizona)
• Background on Tim can be found here. More can be found on the Caper Team site.)
• Background info on Michelle can be found here.
• Pictures from the workshop can be found here.
• A complete workshop agenda is available here.


• Report on the September 18, 2004 Workshop with Ed Prather (Arizona) and Steve Shawl (Kansas)
• The Workshop in Pictures
• Promotional Flyer for the Workshop #7


• Report on the September 19, 2003 Workshop with Tim Slater of the University of Arizona
• Download the Complete Workshop Agenda
• The Workshop Computer Lab in Pictures
• Background Information on Tim Slater
• Other Events by Tim Slater during his visit
• Article in the Daily Nebraskan about Tim's Public Talk


• Report on the January 24, 2003 Workshop with Dick McCray
• Background Information on Dick McCray
• Public talks by Dick McCray during his visit


• Report on the September 20, 2002 Workshop with Margaretha (Peggy) Motes
• Web Version of Peggy's Presentation
• Background Information on Peggy Motes
• Information on the Educator Workshop at Culler Middle School (September 19, 2002)


• Report on the January 2002 Workshop with Larry Marschall
• Biographical Information on Dr. Marschall
• Public talks by Dr. Marschall during his visit
• Pictures During Larry's Visit


• Report on the September 2001 Workshop with Robert Mutel



• Report on the September 2000 Workshop with Mike Guidry