startorialist:Spotted: Professor Kelly Holley‐Bockelmann wearing a custom gravitational waves dres
startorialist: Spotted: Professor Kelly Holley‐Bockelmann wearing a custom gravitational waves dress from @shenovafashion for her TEDxNashville talk! The photos show Kelly on stage and backstage with her coach, Rob Ivy (photos courtesy TEDxNashville & Rob Ivy). Here’s the story behind the talk and the dress (links added): I was asked to give this TED talk last November, back when the LIGO gravitational wave discovery was just a rumor. Although I had a pretty good idea that the rumors were true, I figured I’d just talk about gravitational waves and my research on supermassive black holes. But just 2 months before the talk, LIGO announced the detection and there was no way I was going to talk about anything else! I saw the dress about 2-3 days later, through Facebook –and then STARtorialist (THANK YOU!!) – and knew I had to have it. It’s way more expensive than I’d normally spend on a dress, but I asked my TEDx coach if it would be a good idea to wear it, and they loved the idea. Since I don’t have @michelleobamaarms I asked for sleeves. Happily, Holly Renee added ¾ length sleeves and they really fit the vibe of the dress (normally, $10 extra for alterations). The only drawback is that there was no place to put the mic-pack, so they tied a rope around my waist and hung it off the back of the rope! The sleeves look great on the dress, and I love how Kelly’s hair coordinates with the color palette. I didn’t even notice the rope! Here’s a little more about Kelly: Kelly Holley‐Bockelmann is an Associate Professor of Astronomy at Vanderbilt University, where she joined the faculty in 2007. She received her B.S. in Physics at Montana State University and her PhD in Astronomy in 1999 at the University of Michigan. Her main research interests are in computational galaxy dynamics, black holes of all sorts, and gravitational waves. Dr. Holley Bockelmann’s research on growing supermassive black holes and rogue black holes have been featured in many online and print media outlets. As a first-generation college graduate within a family that sometimes lived below the poverty level, Dr. Holley-Bockelmann has a deep interest in broadening the participation of women, minorities, and first-generation college students in science. She is the Co-Director of the Fisk-to-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-PhD Bridge Program, which is designed to mentor a diverse cohort of graduate students to develop the skills needed to succeed as a PhD scientist. Make sure to watch the whole TEDx talk! –Emily Thanks Startorialist for the awesome post! -- source link