North Carolina Astronomers' Meeting (NCAM)
NCAM 2024
In-Person Meeting Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024
Featured Speaker: TBA
NCAM is an annual technical meeting that seeks to bring members of the N.C. professional astronomy community together to network and share research. The meeting usually draws 50-75 attendees from institutions around North Carolina and surrounding states. For the past two decades, NCAM has been held annually in late September or early October and includes a plenary presentation from an invited researcher, short oral sessions scheduled throughout the day, and space for research posters. We especially encourage presentations of student research. The meeting also usually includes two special sessions: the annual business meeting of the N.C. Section of the International Dark-sky Association, and a Center for Astronomy Education Regional Teaching Exchange.
2023 NCAM Plenary Lecture: Rogier Windhorst, Arizona State University
Chasing the Reionizers of the Universe: Lyman Continuum Radiation with Hubble and the potential of Webb
Click here to watch a video of this presentation.
The 2024 Plenary Speaker/Topic will be announced soon.
Meeting registration
There is no registration fee for the NCA meeting. We will have a sign-in table in the Koury Building on GTCC’s Jamestown campus. We would like to get a reasonably accurate headcount so we can let the site committee know how much food and drink to order for break refreshments.
Please let us know if you're coming by registering online by Sept. 19. (The form will be available in August.) Presenters should register by Sept. 17.
Directions and maps
The meeting is in the Koury Hospitality Careers Building on the Jamestown campus of GTCC. Koury is building 19 on the Jamestown campus map. Its physical address is 621 E. Main St, Jamestown, NC, 27282. Park in Lot F.
Local lodging
There are plenty of hotels around the area. Use the Greensboro Convention and Visitors Bureau website to find accommodations if you plan to stay overnight.
Abstract submission
If you would like to present an oral or display presentation at the NCAM meeting, you can register online by Sept. 17. (The form will be available in August.)
Display presentations
Display panel space will be available for 15 to 20 posters.
Oral presentations
The proposed plan is for standard oral presentations to be 10 minutes including Q&A, though this could change, depending on the number of submissions. After you submit the registration form (available in August), you should receive confirmation of receipt within a day of submission. If not, call or e-mail Tom English at 336-334-4822, ext. 50023, or trenglish@gtcc.edu.
Meeting Agenda
Download the 2023 Virtual NCAM program with abstracts. (PDF)
The 2024 agenda will be finalized the week of the meeting. The typical meeting structure is as follows:
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 8:45 a.m. | Conference Opens |
| 9:20 a.m. | Welcome and announcements |
| 9:30 a.m. | Plenary Speaker (TBA) |
| 10:30 a.m. | Morning break |
| 11:15 a.m. | Contributed Oral Session I (short talks) |
| 12:15 p.m. | Lunch break |
| 1:45 p.m. | Contributed Oral Session II (short talks) |
| 2:45 p.m. | Announcements/Break |
| 3:00 p.m. | Regional Teaching Exchange |
NCAM Past Editions
2023
Rogier Windhorst, Arizona State University/JWST, "Chasing the Reionizers of the Early Universe." Click here to watch a video of this presentation.
2022
Rebekah Dawson, Penn State University, "Multifaceted Views of Exoplanet Systems"
2021
Shep Doeleman, Harvard Smithsonian Center For Astrophysics/EHT, “Imaging a Black Hole with the Event Horizon Telescope”
2020
NCAM canceled due to the COVID -19 Pandemic
2019
Cathy Olkin, Southwest Research Institute, “What we have learned about Pluto and the Kuiper Belt from NASA’s New Horizons Mission”
2018
Gabriela González, Louisiana State University/LIGO, “Gravitational Waves Astronomy”
2017
John Mather, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, “From the Big Bang to the End of the Universe, and How We’ll Learn More with the James Webb Space Telescope”
2016
David Charbonneau, Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, “The Compositions of Small Planets”
2015
Sean Solomon, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory/Columbia Univ., “MESSENGER at Mercury: Technical Challenges and Implications for the Formation of the Inner Planets.”
2014
Jocelyn Bell Burnell, University of Oxford, “Reflections on the Discovery of Pulsars”
2013
Don Winget, University of Texas at Austin, “A Close-up Look at White Dwarf Stars: From Kiloparsecs to Centimeters”
2012
Robert A. Benjamin, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, “How to Map the Milky Way”
2011
Francis Halzen, University of Wisconsin-Madison, “IceCube: Particle Astrophysics with High Energy Neutrinos”
2010
Giovanni Fazio, Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, “Observing the High Redshift (z > 5) Universe with the Spitzer Space Telescope”
2009
Hal Levison, Southwest Research Institute, “The Early Dynamical Evolution of the Outer Solar System: A Nice Story”
2008
Neil Gehrels, NASA Goddard, “Gamma Ray Burst Discoveries with the Swift Mission”
2007
Michael Turner, University of Chicago, “Cosmic Acceleration: New Gravitational Physics or Mysterious Dark Energy”
Special Panel Discussion: The past 10 years in Astronomy and a Look to the Coming Decade
Moderated by Robert Naeye (NASA Goddard)
Panel: Jay Bergstralh (NASA Langley), Bruce Carney (UNC-Chapel Hill), Prasun Desai (NASA Langley), Virginia Trimble (U. Cal.-Irvine), Michael Turner (U. Chicago), John Wood (NASA Goddard)
2006
Scott Ransom, NOAO-Charlottesville, “A Millisecond Pulsar (and Basic Physics) Bonanza with the GBT”
2005
Jeff Hester, Arizona State University, “Understanding Our Origins: Formation of Sun-like Stars in Massive Star Environments”
2004
Paul Butler, Carnegie Institution, “Extrasolar Planets”
2003
Prasun Desai, NASA Langley, “2003 Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Return to the Surface”
2002
Steve Murray, Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics/Chandra, “Chandra 101: X-ray Astronomy Made Easy”