Alison Kirkpatrick; Getting Pregnant Super Easy and Other Life Lessons

Aloha from AAS241!!
This week I talk to Allison Kirkpatrick, an assistant professor at the University of Kansas. She is an obervational astronomer, with a focus on supermassive black holes and their effects on how galaxies evolve. She is also the director of the KU Physics & Astronomy department's new NSF REU program, and cares deeply about Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion. I learned so much talking to Allison and she has become a wonderful fountain of information for me. I hope you guys learned from her as much as I did. She is an astronomer, but she is also a woman and a mother – in fact, she had suprise twins in grad school! I hope you enjoy this episode.

Find Allison on Twitter (trust me, she's hilarious) at: @AkAstronomy

Reach out to AstronomerAnd:
Twitter: @astronomerand
Instagram: @astronomerandpod
Email: astronomerand@gmail.com

Show Notes:
In this episode we discuss DARVO. You can read up on it here. https://www.choosingtherapy.com/darvo/
Allison's Webiste: https://kirkpatrick.ku.edu/
CEERS: https://ceers.github.io/index.html
PRIMER: https://primer-jwst.github.io/
More about Allison's research: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KLRjg_gp_k&t=310s


Cover Art: iritmogilevsky.com, Instagram: irit.mog
Theme Tune: Omar Chakor - https://www.fiverr.com/ch6k0r

Land Acknowledgement:
This episode was recorded in Nashville and we recognize that this land belonged to the Indigenous People before it came to be known as the state of Tennessee, or as the United States of America. We recognize that that Indigenous Peoples were the first residents of what we now know as the State of Tennessee and that Nashville is built upon the homelands and villages of the Indigenous Peoples of this region including the Shawnee, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Yuchi tribal nations. Our ability to live and work in this state is the result of direct coercion, forced dispossession, and deliberate colonization. To ignore that is to perpetuate injustice to populations of people that continue to seek redistribution of land that was once theirs. We provide this land acknowledgement in recognition and respect of the indigenous people to whom this land truly belongs. We recognize that acknowledgment by itself is a small gesture, and that it becomes meaningful when coupled with authentic relationship and informed action.

Inclusivity Statement:
I wish for this podcast to be a safe space for those of every gender expression, sexual orientation, ability, race, religious group and age group. I am always trying to learn and improve on my unconscious bias. Any suggestions for improvement will be gratefully received at astronomerand@gmail.com.