Fifty-One Ergs 2019: The fourth international conference on the physics and observations of explosive astronomical transients supernovae and their remnants

North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC

Investigators

Abstract

The night sky is not fixed and unchanging. Every second, huge stellar explosions, known as novae and supernovae, occur in the Universe. These explosions are the sources of the chemical elements that will later go on to form new generations of stars, planets and people. The rate at which we detect such explosions has accelerated in recent years and will continue to grow in the future. As we find more and more of these explosions, it has become clear they are not all the same. The scientific goal of the Fifty-One Ergs (FOE) 2019 conference is to bring together a group of experts in such explosions from all over the world. The conference will encourage the exchange of the latest discoveries and promote the collaborations which will lead to a better understanding of these explosions. The conference agenda also places a strong emphasis on the future of the research. FOE 2019 will feature several debates and panel discussions among the participants on the unsolved problems within the field. Fifty-One Ergs also has the goal of promoting the diversity of the astronomical community of the future. The organizers target speakers diverse in specialization, background, gender, ethnicity, and nationality, and then place them prominently in front of the most distinguished members of the field. At the same time, Fifty-One Ergs also deliberately seeks out scientists who are early in their careers and then gives them the chance to interact with more senior scientists who attend this conference. This award will provide support for twenty attendees who fall into these under-represented groups. The travel budgets of these two groups are often small and support can make the difference between them participating and not attending. Providing these opportunities to them increases the likelihood of successful careers for these groups of scientists, to the general benefit of astrophysics, of science in general, and of the nation. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.