March 7, 2026
STEM Trail Center
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha, Nebraska
9:00 am - 5:00 pm
This conference is dedicated to providing a variety of professional development opportunities in astronomy and physics education for college, high school, and middle school teachers across the state of Nebraska. A theme of this event is the use of instructional technology to improve our teaching of astronomy and physics. The conference begins with a keynote, an exhibition hall, and your choice of four breakout sessions. After lunch, the second keynote and longer workshop sessions close out the day.
DRAFT Schedule
8:30 am
Registration/Parking
9:00 am
Opening Welcome
Patrick Dussault, Associate Dean for Faculty, UNL College of Arts and Sciences
Keynote Presentation
Perennial Wisdom for Modernizing the Curriculum
Christopher Orban, The Ohio State University
10:00 am
Continental Breakfast, Hallway Booths, Poster Session, & Socializing
11:00 am
Breakout Sessions
Simulating Planet Formation | Evan Rich, Chris Siedell
Neutrino Citizen Science | Pawan Giri Martin Liu
Computational Modeling in VPython | Brian Townsend
11:30 am
Breakout Sessions
Modeling Cosmological Redshift | Tammy Blobaum
Discussion: Studio Physics & Scale-Up | Steve Ducharme
12:00 pm
Breakout Sessions
Quantum Operator Toys | Dan Claes
12:30 pm
Breakout Sessions
Simulating Planet Formation | Evan Rich, Chris Siedell
da Vinci Bridges | Larry Browning
1:00 pm
Lunch
Cather Dining Center, Lark Room
2:00 pm
Keynote Presentation
Can Drones Improve Tornado Forecasts
Adam Houston, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
3:00 pm
Breakout Session (1.5 hr)
Tricks of the Trade (in NanoScience and QM) | Steve Wignall
The Physics of Video Games | Chris Orban
HR Diagram Simulations | Kevin Lee, Chris Siedell
4:30 pm
Evaluations
Door Prize Raffle
(must be present to win)