2017 AAS Kentucky Area Regional Meeting Report

On 8 April 2017, about 35 students, faculty, and others from 15 institutions in Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, and Maryland, including a high school student, gathered at Murray State University in Kentucky for the third AAS Regional Meeting in the state. Fabian Kislat (Washington University in St. Louis), Tom Pannuti (Morehead State University), and Marc Kuchner (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, via Skype) gave invited talks, and 13 other participants gave contributed talks or posters. The talks showed the energy and variety of the research on astronomy in our local area. We had a contributed talk from Western Kentucky Amateur Astronomers, providing a valuable link for dissemination of science.

We thank Murray State and the AAS for travel and accommodation support for two of our invited speakers, and Murray State for lunch and coffee/refreshments. The program is available online.

The participants had an annual business meeting for the Kentucky Area Professional Astronomical Society, with Nathan De Lee (Northern Kentucky University) taking over the presidency. Outgoing president Gerry Williger (University of Louisville) gave a public talk that evening on the Great American Eclipse of 2017, which will have totality pass within a few miles of the site. The participants appreciated the chance to get to know each other's research, and will meet again in 2018 at Northern Kentucky University.