Professional Development for Astronomers

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This grant will partially fund Professional Development Courses that will take place during the upcoming Winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society. The proposed activities include three half-day workshops and one two-hour seminar on these topics:- Basic Negotiation- Emerging Leadership- Effective Visual Communication of Data- Oral Presentations (2 hour seminar)All of the activities will be held during the main days of the meeting. While the funding requested in this proposal will only support the courses at the January 2011 meeting this proposal could be considered as a pilot as the intention is to have such courses as a regular feature at future meetings.The Intellectual Merit of the proposal is to provide expert training in an array of non-scientific tasks that are crucial to the effectiveness of scientists and educators. Many astronomers have had little or no formal training in the topics that will be covered. For researchers that are also educators these courses will help in both aspects of their careers. The Broader Impact of the proposed work is to increase the effectiveness of all astronomers that participate is all of their various job functions which will directly promote the progress of science. The topics offered in the courses will likely have a large impact on young investigators and participants from underrepresented groups.