ESP Biography
LAUREN WEISS, Planet Hunter Extraordinaire
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Major: Astronomy & Astrophysics College: UC Berkeley Year of Graduation: G |
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Brief Biographical Sketch:
A planet hunter and midnight playwright, the last thing Lauren will admit to being is a graduate student... at Cal! Nonetheless, she is crossing to the rosier side of the Bay to do one of the things she loves most: teaching. Lauren has taught Introduction to Astronomy through the John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth summer programs in 2009 and 2010. She is currently a GSI (or TA, in real-world lingo) for Alex Filippenko, who is only slightly less famous for being a part of both groups that won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics than he is for his teaching. If you are worried about Lauren's credentials, please relax. She has degrees from both Harvard and Cambridge, and she knows how to use them. Lauren's greatest ambitions are to find Yoda on another planet and to write a nice book about it. Past Classes(Look at the class archive for more.)Planets around Other Stars in Splash! Fall 2011
This course will introduce students to the techniques that scientists have used to discover planets around other stars. Students will work in teams to try their hand at these techniques with real data. We will discuss the nature of planets around other stars (including the recent discoveries of a six-planet system and a planet with two stars) and the possibility for life on these worlds.
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