Friends,
It is a pleasure to announce this year’s awards, presented at the 107th Annual meeting of the AAVSO (Lowell Observatory - Flagstaff, AZ)
-- 2018 Director's Award: Dennis Conti
“for his excellent leadership and work with the AAVSO Exoplanet program, training observers through the relevant CHOICE course, workshops, and manuals, creating and overseeing the design of the AAVSO exoplanet database, and his continuous involvement in cutting-edge science with HST and TESS.”
-- 2018 William Tyler Olcott Distinguished Service Award: Virginia Trimble
"... for her influential five-decade-long body of research in astronomy, including work on myriad types of variable stars; her outstanding service to the discipline through her annual reviews of advances in astrophysics as well as her work with professional organizations; her ability to bring to life the history of astronomy and communicate effectively with the public; and her invaluable service as a mentor and role model to multiple generations of astronomers."
-- 2018 Merit Award: Barbara G. Harris
“...in recognition of her years of dedicated service to the organization, selflessly contributing in numerous ways, including as a member of Council and multiple Committees, mentoring fellow observers, teaching the CHOICE course in DSLR Photometry, submitting over 38,000 variable star observations using multiple techniques, and in particular her valuable contributions to observing campaigns, including her discovery of the January 28, 2010, outburst of U Sco.”
Two special awards were also presented, recognizing the work of two teams of volunteers:
-- Juan-Luis González Carballo, David H. Hinzel, Gabriel Murawski, Patrick Wils and Sebastián Otero, "for their valuable volunteer contributions to the AAVSO and the variable star community through their work on generating the VSX new data submission manual."
-- Prof. Carolyn Shiery, Keanu David, Tyler Arnold and Zachary Burkhart, "for their valuable volunteer contributions to the AAVSO through their work on creating new marketing material promoting the AAVSO's work to the community."
All awards can be found here: https://www.aavso.org/awards-and-honors
Congratulations to all award recipients and thank you for your hard work and for your service to the AAVSO community!
Best wishes - clear skies,
Stella.