Dr. Roopesh Ojha is an astronomer working for the Fermi Gamma-ray Space telescope at the Goddard Space Flight Center. He has previously worked at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, DC, the Australia Telescope National Facility, in Sydney, Australia and the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, MA (including a year operating a telescope at the South Pole).
He studies the physics of active galactic nuclei - galaxies where the dominant source of energy is matter falling onto a central supermassive black hole. He will talk about one of the two new "senses" that humanity has acquired in the last few years - neutrino astronomy. Neutrinos are a completely new messenger bringing us unique information about the cosmos. Buckle up! This ride is just beginning.
If there is adequate bandwidth, and it isn't entirely used up by the attendees and their iPhones, iPads, iPods, etc., we will stream the meeting over the Pi's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeX9TuhjBL7n1HGlHOaNCmQ
If that fails (George Mason has taken rather draconian steps to lock down Wi-Fi), we will use Periscope to stream to the Pi's public Twitter page, https://twitter.com/pi_org"
Here's our Attendance Check-in link, https://drive.google.com/open?id=1J1v4kDYa4_RYpUfaBt8JXufn0byPU4XroatG9aYycEU
The General Meeting will be in Enterprise Hall, Room 178, #16 on the map below, on the George Mason University campus in Fairfax VA. Check back closer to the meeting date for any updates or changes.
Enterprise Hall, our normal meeting place, is #16, and Exploratory Hall is #17. Click on the map for a much larger version of the George Mason University campus map.
Address: 4400 University Dr., Fairfax, VA (near Rte 123 and Braddock Road). Directions and Map: http://www.gmu.edu/welcome/Directions-to-GMU.html
A whole bunch of George Mason maps: http://eagle.gmu.edu/map/fairfax.php
The Shenandoah Parking Garage (formerly the Sandy Creek Parking Garage because it is located on Sandy Creek) is fee-based facility. It is more convenient and closer to the meeting location. The Pi will subsidize the facility's parking fee by providing vouchers for donation request of $4.00.
If using the parking garage, park in Visitor's area; i.e., the lowest level. Take the elevator to the third floor (Campus Level), and exit along the sky bridge.
After the meeting, exit the garage using the exits marked for Validated Tickets. Your parking ticket goes in first. Then the validation ticket goes in next. If you have any problems, there is a speaker box for calling the parking lot attendant at the checkout point.
Free parking in Lot A
Park as close to Mattaponi River Lane as possible, then walk north along that road toward the main campus buildings. The sidewalk route takes you directly to the side of Enterprise Hall, on your left. The meeting room is located on the second floor, accessible via outside stairs or via an elevator on your right as soon as you enter the building through the doors behind the outside stairs. We will endeavor to have signs posted to help guide you to the right location. It is at least a five-minute walk from Lot A and up a slight incline. We will be using a golf cart along the route, to offer rides to those who want or need a lift.
Handicapped Parking: There are three handicap parking spaces next to Enterprise Hall that can be used by members, on a first come first served basis. Have your Handicap Sticker showing on the dashboard or on the rear-view mirror.