Free Astronomy Talk: Milky Way Citizen Science

Get to know our galaxy better—and find out how you can contribute to our expanding knowledge of it—during a free talk presented by the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit in Fleischmann Auditorium at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Matthew Povich, Ph.D., will describe his work mapping star birth in our Milky Way Galaxy using multiwavelength surveys across X-rays, visible light, infrared, and radio. Dr. Povich will also highlight the Milky Way Project, a citizen science initiative through which tens of thousands of volunteers from around the world have contributed to this research. Povich will provide an opportunity for audience members to get involved, too.

Povich joined the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Cal Poly Pomona in fall 2012. He is an observational astronomer specializing in multiwavelength (primarily infrared and X-ray) observations and modeling to study large-scale star-forming complexes in our Milky Way Galaxy. He received his A.B. in astronomy and astrophysics from Harvard College in 2000. After graduating, he served as a Peace Corps volunteer math and physics teacher at Moshi Technical Secondary School in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, from 2000 to 2002. He attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, earning his M.S. in astronomy (with a minor in physics) in 2006 and Ph.D. in astronomy in 2009. He further developed his research, education, and public outreach experience as an NSF astronomy and astrophysics postdoctoral fellow at Pennsylvania State University from 2009 to 2012.

Milky Way image CC 4.0 by ESO/Y. Beletsky