History of the Sierra Conference
According to UC Astronomy lore, many years ago there existed an inter-campus gathering of graduate students known as the Sierra Conference...
The early days
The very first Sierra Conference was in 1968 and the original founders include Lawrence Anderson, Priscilla Frisch, and Richard Treffers, who were graduate students at UC Berkeley at the time.Lawrence shared some of what he remembered from that time:
"The main concerns were setting up the talks, inviting speakers (who came mostly from California and Arizona, but there were a few visiting scholars too), reserving the campsite, and then planning menus. The first conference was in 1968 and I think we held one every year after that.
Here is a summary of a typical conference for ~50 to 70 people:
1) Most were held in the Tuolumne Meadows campground of Yosemite, although I think there were one or two in Kings Canyon and/or Sequoia.
2) They were five days long, with added weekend time for anyone who wanted to stay.
3) It was a tentcamping only site, so no RVs, etc. but you could park in an associated area.
4) We had one or two science talks in the morning, and one in the evening around a campfire. I don't think we had electricity,
so all presentations were blackboard/chalk or posterboard. We did have Coleman lanterns for added lighting in the evening.
5) There was a fee (I don't remember how much) out of which we supplied all meals for the five days. We did not pay speakers. I don't remember if we had any other funding, but we may have.
6) The meals were good! My wife and I and Richard and Donna Treffers made up quite sophisticated menus (grilled flank steak and other more perishables early on, reduced to spaghetti by friday). We built a giant insulated cooler (2x2x4') that held dry ice for most of the duration. We marinated the flank steaks in the car on the way from Berkeley. Bacon and eggs, etc. for breakfast, sandwich ingredients to take on the trail for lunch, and full course dinners. Attendees were responsible for their plates and utensils, but we had some extras. People took turns on cooking and cleaning up duties.
7) There were bears. On one memorable evening, Alan Sandage was giving a talk at the campfire he was facing all of us so did not see a bear come up behind the poster easel. But we did. We remained quiet until the bear came in front of the easel... (I may be exaggerating a bit here for effect)."
If you were a past participant and have photos or stories to contribute about the Sierra Conference, please reach out! We would love to have a more complete history.
The Osterbrock revival
During the 2017 Observational Astronomy Workshop at Lick Observatory on Mt. Hamilton, many of the attendees expressed interest in holding more inter-campus events to create more of a community with UC astronomy grads. The lore of the Sierra Conference was mentioned and it was decided that they would try to revive it. At exactly the same time, the Donald and Irene Osterbrock Leadership Program at UC Santa Cruz put out a call for proposals for its very first "mini-grants" projects. Thus, with the drive of these students and a successful proposal, the era of the Osterbrock Sierra Conference began.
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2018:
Conference Abstract Booklet
Dates: August 16th - 19th
Location: Fir Campground, Sequoia National Forest
Organizing Committee: Felipe Ardila (UCSC), Nathan Sandford (UCB), Arianna Brown (UCI), Erin George (UCSD), Jessica Hirtenstein (UCD), Isabel Lipartito (UCSB), Anthony Pahl (UCLA), Derek Nathaniel Diaz Wilson (UCI), M. Katy Rodriguez Wimberly (UCI)
Summary: Given that early surveys showed very strong interest in attending the conference, we optimistically reserved a site that could fit 100 people. In the end, there were 11 attendees from 6 UC campuses and we had a lot of space. We all arrived by Thursday night and the next morning we spent some time meeting and learning about each other. During the day the whole group went on a hike to Muir Grove trail. In the evening we gathered around the campfire to discuss departmental cultures and resources - what works well and what are some differences between campuses. There were recurring themes about limited involvement in department culture and miscommunications between faculty and grads. There was also a clear difference in experience between astro-only and combined physics/astro departments. On saturday morning we had our first science session, and half of attendees presented their mini posters. During the day we had another group hike, this time on the Tokopah Falls Trail and the Big Trees Trail. In the evening we held the second half of poster presentations. Then, we had a collaborative brainstorming activity on ideas to improve and connect the UC Astro Grad community. Several ideas emerged involving science discussions, increased inter-campus communication, and creation shared online resources.
2019:
Conference Abstract Booklet
Dates: August 15th - 18th
Location: Crystal Springs Campground, Kings Canyon National Park
Organizing Committee: Felipe Ardila (UCSC), Steven Giacalone (UCB), Jessica Hirtenstein (UCD), Anthony Pahl (UCLA), Devontae Baxter (UCI), Sarah Steiger (UCSB), Petia Yanchulova Merica-Jones (UCSD), Marziye Jafariyazani (UCR)
Summary: We had 20 attendees from 7 UC campuses. Most of us arrived on Thursday evening and we had a short icebreaking activity to meet each other. On Friday and Saturday mornings we held our science sessions where everyone went around presenting their mini-poster. On Friday evening, our discussion began with the question: "What do we (dis)like about our departments?". In general, there was shared positivity about the sense of community in each departmnet, and less favorable experiences attempting to effect change within a department. On Saturday evening we held a brainstorming session titled "Increasing communication and collaboration across campuses: Project ideas. Implementation strategies. Next steps." Five main project ideas resulted from this session: 1) a UC-wide astro grad slack workspace, 2) a UC-wide newsletter for astro grads, 3) a directory of all UC astro grads, 4) a repository of basic info to help grads, 5) organizing regional meetups. Recreational activities over both days included hiking, rock climbing, tree climbing and exploring the park.
2020:
Unfortunately the conference was cancelled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. ☹2021:
Conference Abstract Booklet
Dates: October 22nd - 25th
Location: Campo Alto Campground, Los Padres National Forest
Organizing Committee: Minghan Chen (UCSB), Felipe Ardila (UCSC), Patty Bolan (UCD), Steven Giacalone (UCB), Ming-Feng Ho (UCR), Courtney Klein (UCI), Jack Lubin (UCI), Micah Oeur (UCM), Anthony Pahl (UCLA), Mahdi Qezlou (UCR), Bryan Scott (UCR), Sarah Steiger (UCSB), Stella Zhang (UCSD)
Summary: It was originally scheduled to take place in September at Quaking Aspen Campground (Sequoia National Forest) with 50 confirmed attendees from all 9 UC campuses, but we were forced to reschedule due to wildfires. Despite the hurdles, we still had 18 participants (and 2 dogs) representing 6 UC campuses and Caltech. During the first morning of science discussions we split into two random groups and each person presented their research to their group. The second morning, posters were grouped by subject area which allowed for more in depth discussions within each subfield. Our Saturday evening discussion was postponed for Sunday morning because it was too cold to have an outdoor discussion at night without a fire. So, following the Sunday morning poster session, we gathered in a circle in a sunny area and went around discussing what each of us liked and disliked about our departments. There was shared discontent about the grad student experience within the structure of academia, but there were also perks that were unique to a department that made the experience more enjoyable. We unanimously decided to end the conference early, on Sunday evening, due to the risk of snow on Monday morning, so the second evenening discussion was cancelled. Recreational activities over both days included hiking with incredible views, rock climbing, and bouldering.
