Public Outreach and Education
Sky without borders: Alongside my academic career, I always wanted to share my passion for astronomy with others. I think of astronomy as a gateway to introduce science to people, and show them how beautiful and useful science is in their everyday lives. That is why in the fall of 2008, with the help of a team of four friends, we established a global project called “StarPeace“, which aimed to promote peace and astronomy by having neighboring countries to hold public observation nights for locals at the same time at two sides of their borders. By the end of the project in 2014, we had more than 30 nations as our members and held more than 50 public observations around the globe.
Multi-lingual astronomy: The next major step in my outreach activities was co-founding the Staryab astrophysical literature website in Persian, with my friend and colleague, Azadeh Keivani. In Staryab, we present an interesting recent paper in astrophysics from arXiv every week in a simple format that is comprehensible to those who are in the beginning of this road. Our main audience is Persian (Farsi)-speaking science undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiastic high schoolers, and amateur astronomers who are eager to know more about the state-of-the-art research in astronomy around the world. Staryab won the 2018 Cheragh prize for scientific outreach to Persian speakers.
Math for underrepresented minorities: My most recent outreach initiative was the MESCIT mentorship program. MESCIT aims to reach to underrepresented students in Tucson, Arizona. Read more about it in its dedicated page here.
Multi-lingual astronomy: The next major step in my outreach activities was co-founding the Staryab astrophysical literature website in Persian, with my friend and colleague, Azadeh Keivani. In Staryab, we present an interesting recent paper in astrophysics from arXiv every week in a simple format that is comprehensible to those who are in the beginning of this road. Our main audience is Persian (Farsi)-speaking science undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiastic high schoolers, and amateur astronomers who are eager to know more about the state-of-the-art research in astronomy around the world. Staryab won the 2018 Cheragh prize for scientific outreach to Persian speakers.
Math for underrepresented minorities: My most recent outreach initiative was the MESCIT mentorship program. MESCIT aims to reach to underrepresented students in Tucson, Arizona. Read more about it in its dedicated page here.
Community Service
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In addition to public outreach, I am keen to help my astronomical community by participating and leading service activities, such as serving in proposal and telescope time allocation review panels, refereeing journal manuscripts, and organizing local and global workshops and meetings. Conferences: In April 2018, I co-organized a local one-day ALMA proposal workshop at University of Arizona, as part of the ALMA Ambassadors effort by NOAO. In March 2019, I co-chaired an international 5-day conference on dust in galaxies (Dusting the Universe). The conference was very successful, with ~100 international participants. In March 2020, I organized a local JWST proposal planning workshop at University of Arizona, as part of the STScI JWST Master Class effort. Due to COVID-19 situation, the workshop was changed to a fully virtual setup. I am now co-chairing the "Dust and Gas throughout Cosmic Time" conference in Hiroshima, Japan in December 2024: link I have also been on the SOC of various conferences. You can find the details in my CV. COVID-19: We are living in a strange time, all experiencing challenges of the global pandemic. I am the postdoc representative in the University of Arizona College of Science postdocs and graduate students re-entry committee. We evaluate and address the issues that postdocs and graduate students may face in research, teaching, mentoring, and overall maintaining academic life, while struggling with the pandemic. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): Aside from my outreach and educational activities (above), I am the postdoc representative in the International Scholars task force of the Steward Observatory DEI initiative. The goal of the task force is to facilitate the transition of incoming international scholars to Tucson and Steward, and to strengthen mutual understanding and respect within the Steward Observatory community. |
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Hobbies
Morning at Avalanche Lake in Montana's Rocky Mountains, Glacier National Park, USA
Our ship breaking the Antarctic ocean in Paradise Bay, December 2007. Photo: I. Shivaei
While not doing research or outreach, I enjoy reading, traveling, hiking, photography, and observing the night sky with naked eyes or through my small telescope. I also love writing - I wrote public astronomy and science articles for local magazines (including Nojum, the most popular public astronomy magazine in Iran) during my undergraduate years.
One of the my main passions in life is traveling. I have traveled to many countries in Asia, Europe, and America. My most adventurous trip was an expedition to Antarctica in December 2007 (image on the right). It was an educational expedition by the Students On Ice organization. The expedition changed my life perspective towards our planet and taught me to have more respect towards our beautiful Earth. You can also check my Instagram page (@irenestory) for more photos.
One of the my main passions in life is traveling. I have traveled to many countries in Asia, Europe, and America. My most adventurous trip was an expedition to Antarctica in December 2007 (image on the right). It was an educational expedition by the Students On Ice organization. The expedition changed my life perspective towards our planet and taught me to have more respect towards our beautiful Earth. You can also check my Instagram page (@irenestory) for more photos.
As said, "The world is a book and those who do not travel, read only one page".
