I am hiring a postdoc to work with me on time domain astrophysics, primarily in prep for Rubin LSST. Job ad here: lnkd.in/esamU7gy Please share! :) Start date is flexible & can be as early as this Fall. There have been Q's about the application portal, so do not hesitate to email me for help!

#WallpaperWednesday: #RubinFirstLook edition 🤩 Need a new phone background? Loved the first images from NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory? We've got you! Save one of these to use, set it, and enjoy the cosmos captured by Rubin every time you use your phone 🌌🔭🧪

I was also a Jenkins fellow during my PhD, and it undoubtedly helped launch my research independence as well. The bottom line: more diverse avenues for opportunities = more people engaged in STEM.

I just got an email saying the embargo is lifted, so here's the full @vrubinobs.bsky.social press release: noirlab.edu/public/news/...

My mind is absolutely blown by these stellar halos nearby NGC 4364! Left: DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys (DR10) Right: Newly released @vrubinobs.bsky.social imaging!!! #AstroSci 🧪🔭

Here it is: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIJf...

Introducing...your sneak peek at the cosmos captured by NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory! Can you guess these regions of sky? This is just a small peek...join us at 11am US EDT for your full First Look at how Rubin will #CaptureTheCosmos! 🔭🧪 #RubinFirstLook ls.st/rubin-first-look-livestream

Want to see NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory's Cosmic Treasure Chest for yourself? Explore using Rubin's Skyviewer! There are billions of pixels to explore, and you might be the the first to lay eyes on a small, distant galaxy! #RubinFirstLook #CaptureTheCosmos skyviewer.app

Next year’s incoming college freshmen were born after I got paired with this project 18 years ago. The effects of suffocating this and other projects today will erase generations of scientists in the US going forward. 🧪🔭

MAJOR PARTICLE PHYSICS REPORT RELEASE ⚛️🧪 The National Academies particle physics decadal report is out! Read read! (I was a member of the committee that wrote this report but resigned during drafting bc of a conflict of service w/my HEPAP appointment.) nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/2883...

A fantastic view from outside the plenary at #AAS246 in Anchorage is a lovely reminder that the Earth carries on despite us wee humans

Dara Norman @aas.org President kicks off the meeting with inspiration. “We are all in this together”. #aas246 🧪🔭✨

At the #AAS246 conference in Alaska. Raise your wriggly arms if you're jazzed by astro!

Did you know YOU will be able to work on NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory data in your free time as a volunteer scientist?🔭🧪 We've partnered with the Zooniverse, a platform where researchers build projects for volunteer scientists. Find out more at rubinobservatory.org/explore/citizen-science 📷: B. Quint

Rep Lofgren: “This sick joke of a budget is a nonstarter" - No truer words.

"For every $100 the US government spent, it put 40¢ in the bucket for NASA. And what do we get for that? ✨The Universe ✨" "One of these bills represents, to scale, the federal budget & the other with NASA’s total budget trimmed off the edges. Can you tell the difference?" @philplait.bsky.social

Yes, the proposed NASA & NSF cuts would shutter many high-priority next-gen US astro facilities. But even more importantly, the proposed budget surgically targets & eliminates the pathways for training & employing the people req'd to get science out of the facilities we can still afford to complete.

Briefly wandered over to The Other Place to gauge the response to the NASA budget devastation to encounter a bunch of gleeful 'we spend too much money, so this is great.' TO BE, ONCE AGAIN, PERFECTLY CLEAR, THE BUDGET REQUEST MOVES ALL THIS MONEY TO DEFENSE. IT SPENDS IT. NO MONEY IS SAVED.

Cutting $20 billion to NIH over 25 years may save $500 billion on paper, but it’d end up costing $8.2 trillion in lost human health. But NIH isn't the only thing being cut. The budget also slashes all NSF-funded science by 73 percent. NASA faces “the biggest single-year cut to NASA in history."

There's a lot to unpack in the president's FY26 requested #NASA budget, but the near zeroing of the physics of the cosmos program (from $196M to $1.5M) is especially bleak. If passed, the future of high-energy astrophysics is not in the US. 🔭

something that stands out about this is just how cheap it is for us to have world-leading scientific capacity we spent ~6.75 trillion last year, and the combined budgets for NIH, NSF and NASA are barely more than 1% of that what an incredible waste to lose it all for a drop in the bucket

Following the inspiration of @ohdearz.bsky.social @theplanetaryguy.bsky.social @jtuttlekeane.bsky.social here’s the NASA fleet with the proposed budget cuts. Red X’s will be fully defunded, green X’s will lose all NASA funding but have other funding sources, and exclamation point means >50% cuts

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Lots of neat anecdotes in this article for fellow ADHDers :)

How bad will it be? Catastrophic. Proposed cuts to #NSF, #NIH, and #NASA will set the US R&D landscape back 25 yrs+, cause economic and job loss now, and undermine innovations to come. But, this is the WH's *proposed* budget. Speak up now before it is too late. (inflation adjusted $-s below)

I was an MPS Ascend fellow, now in my first year post-fellowship in a faculty position. This is devastating on so many levels.

The NASA planetary science fleet chart if the president’s budget is enacted.

The President's Budget Request for NASA is out - What a disaster for astrophysics! Numerous missions already in development are canceled. It is well past time for all of us to raise our voices if we value science in this country. You can find the documents here: www.nasa.gov/fy-2026-budg...

Astrophysics also being gutted, including the elimination of the Astrophysics Data Analysis Program

Are you a PI of a federal grant cancelled by the Trump administration? Please share your info with the Democratic Staff of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, who launched this portal yesterday to track funding cancellations 🔭🧪 forms.office.com/pages/respon...

I think about this comic at least once a week

The PBR slashes science funding by >50%, putting my career and our future STEM workforce under threat of being demolished. @fetterman.senate.gov @repdwightevans.bsky.social @davemccormick.bsky.social What will you do to support science & constituents in your state? #WeekOfAction #SaveScience

A new study by economists estimates that a 25% cut in science funding would result in a GDP decline similar in magnitude to the 2008 recession. They also estimate that a 75% cut to government science would trigger a larger GDP decline than in any recession since the Great Depression.

Science funding is under attack in the United States. This is a dire national problem with profound global implications, but we can fight back. Use the form on our website to tell your representatives to advocate for federal research and science funding. Act now: spie.org/community-su...

NASA delays astrophysics mission call for proposals amid budget uncertainties NASA is delaying the next competition for an astrophysics mission by a year, the latest sign of the fiscal pressures from an upcoming budget proposal.

Today, we're launching a dedicated action hub for the crisis threatening NASA science. Find actions, latest news and up-to-date resources at: www.planetary.org/save-nasa-sc... #ProtectNASAScience

“This campus was literally built on the backs of Black men and women, and that labor has been unrecognized as it always is. It was unrecognized and uncelebrated until Black students wanted to take on the responsibility of bringing their contributions to light.” — artist Nekisha Durrett

Maryland voters: join me on the @aas.org Zoom on Friday at noon. I'll give a short summary of the congressional appropriations process, and I'll walk you through making your own request for funding for NASA, NSF, and DOE Office of Science. 🧪🔭 Zoom at noon on Friday, April 18: bit.ly/3Y1cJq2

I spent the day on the Hill speaking with various offices about the critical importance of funding fundamental research in science. I am incredibly inspired by the others in my team who spoke incisively and with passion. You can do this too: go to your Rep or senator website and request a meeting!

Today I visited my senators and some of my colleagues’ reps to advocate for basic science with the @aas.org Congressional Visit Day. I spent my whole voice today. (aside: Booker, how’d you do that last night?) What are you going to do tomorrow? 🧪🔭

❤️

!!!ACTION ALERT!!! Hey #AAS members, you got an action alert email last Thursday. There is a BIG 🔵button that says “ACT NOW”. The action can be done in less than 5min. So if you care about the future of #astronomy (and #science) just do it ok? 🔭🧪

Thinking about a lot about generative A.I. lately from the perspective of student/educator interactions. Regardless of how you feel about it, the cat's outta the bag & we live in a brave new world that's shoving A.I. down our throats everywhere we turn. So what about our students? [1/x] 🧪🎢

The Trump administration's efforts to slash research funding have US graduate students, postdocs and other early-career scientists fearing for their careers. Some might leave the country -- or abandon research altogether. https://go.nature.com/43ao2zq

Did you hear that? That was the sound of US science crashing to the floor. The 🧪 #STEM

Student: Wow you seem to know all my mistakes before I make them. Me: Yes I've made them all hundreds of times.

The Democrats on the House Science Committee have set up a website to collect stories from fired federal employees, anonymously if desired democrats-science.house.gov/sciencefirings

All of these are great for a multitude of reasons.... but I especially like this one