ASA's Annual Science Meeting @ Monash
The
Astronomical Society of
Australia held its
Annual Scientific Meeting at
Monash's own Clayton campus last month.
The ASM has not been held at Monash since 1991, so it has been a long time
coming. The
Harley Wood Winter school was
held, as is traditional, immediately prior to the ASM on Phillip Island.
The winter school was a great success, attracting 76 attendees; kudos to the
organisational team led by
Dane Kleiner (SOC chair) and
Jake Crossett (LOC chair).
The meeting itself kicked off on Sunday evening with a very civilised opening reception, and continued throughout the week. Highlights for me included the great opening speech by Monash Chancellor Dr. Alan Finkel; the special session on science with the Mileura Widefield Array (MWA) and the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP); and the conference dinner in Chinatown featuring the very smooth Leon de Bruin quintet.
The local organising committee was chaired by yours truly, and the rest of the meeting ran very smoothly with the help of the rest of the LOC; the excellent SOC (chaired by Michael Brown); and the expert conference organisation team of Danielle, Bree & Kristie from ASN Events. Many thanks to everyone who helped make it a success, including of course the speakers, poster presenters, tweeters, and all the other attendees!