DATE: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:27:15 +1000
SUBJECT: Stromlo Student Xmas Seminars 2009


The 7th Annual Christmas S.E.M.I.N.A.R.S.: Students' Expositions on the Matter
of Irritating and Needless AcRonymS

The 7th Annual Stromlo Student Christmas Seminars are being held on Friday the
27th of November 2009 at Mt. Stromlo Observatory, Canberra. We invite students
from all over Australia to attend and give talks. These seminars represent a
chance for you to present a talk in a friendly environment on your thesis work,
or on any astronomy related (however vaguely) subject you like. 

Students can enjoy FREE registration, FREE snacks and dinner, and TRAVEL SUPPORT
is available to students outside the ACT. And of course, there's the awesome
scientific and social atmosphere that abounds wherever students of Astronomy
congregate.

To register, visit http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/xmas09/ .
Find us on facebook!

About this year's theme:

Ah, acronyms. Astronomy seems to be full of them these days, from ARMPIT to
WOMBAT and everything in between. Let's be honest, we all know and lo--well, we
all know them, right?

So this year the Christmas Seminars is a celebration of everything acronymic,
and we've even got our own acronym: S.E.M.I.N.A.R.S, or Students' Expositions
on the Matter of Irritating and Needless AcRonymS. This is a pretty broad
topic, when you think about it. Are you involved in a project with its own
acronym? Do you use data from MACHO or 2MASS, for example? We'd love to hear
about your work. Fancy talking about something else? You've got plenty of scope
given the abundance of acronyms in the wild. Want to talk about something
completely silly? We bet you can't come up with sillier acronyms than we can!

Talks will be 12 minutes long plus 3 minutes of question time. Like last year,
there will be prizes for the best talks, and a prize for the silliest acronym
created and used in a talk, so get your thinking caps on. See you in Canberra
in November!

S.E.M.I.N.A.R.S. BE SILLY. BE SERIOUS. JUST BE THERE.