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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Aug 23

Thank you! 😁

Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Aug 15

Lol, thanks!

(Yeah, there really isn't an actual distinction between astronomer & astrophysicist any more [decades ago, somewhat yes]. Any distinction these days is usually about the title of your degree and/or position.)

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Aug 14

My little #NASA space cadets. 👨‍🚀🚀🐶🐕😂 #puppies #dogs

Two brown dogs sitting and looking at the camera, the left one with medium length foofy hair and beard, the right one with short, smooth hair. They both sport bandanas with embroidered NASA meatball logos. On the floor in front of them are three NASA-branded toys: a bone with rubber tug handle, an astronaut, and a rocket with knotted tug rope.

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Aug 6

Are you at @creationent.bsky.social's #STLV? Join us for "Women of STEM & Sci-Fi: Meet the Astrophysicists" with me, @jesstella.bsky.social, & Olivia Greene of @neuroverse-tni.bsky.social!

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Aug 6

🖖🏼🖖🏼🖖🏼WE'RE ON THE MAIN STAGE WEDNESDAY AT 11:45! 😱😱😱

(In the Leonard Nimoy Theatre!)
((Right after the #StarTrekTOS guest stars & just before the #StarTrekDiscovery recurring stars!!)

www.creationent.com/cal/cemissio...

Banner image for Creation Entertainment's STLV Trek to Vegas, August 6-10, 2025, at the Rio Las Vegas.

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Jun 29

🏳️‍🌈🧪⚛🔭USA's 1st woman in space #SallyRide was an inspiration, enduring blatant misogyny & shattering a glass ceiling while hiding a secret: her #LGBTQ+ status. Join @astrosociety.org's livestream Mon, 30 JUN, 17:15 PDT #NatGeo docufilm SALLY + Q&A w/former #NASA #astronaut #CadyColeman.
tiny.cc/SALLY

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Jun 14

@neuroverse-tni.bsky.social

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Jun 9

Stormy & Greyson 🥰🐶😂

#Repost @encinitas_petshotel with @let.repost
• • • • • •
Love Unleashed 🏳️‍🌈 #PrideMonth #daycampparties #lifeatpetsmart #anythingforpets #0144

Two brown dogs wearing Pride bandanas, sitting posed for a photo against a rainbow background and "Love is Love 🩶" banner. 🏳️‍🌈

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Jun 8

🧵4/4 "Does Taylor Swift Hold the Key to the Destiny of the #Universe?"

by @discovermag.bsky.social

www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences...

Does Taylor Swift Hold the Key to the Destiny of the Universe?

And learn how whisky may signal the discovery of an extraterrestrial civilization (hic).

www.discovermagazine.com

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Jun 8

🧵3/4 "The #ErasTour: Mapping the Eras of Taylor Swift to the Cosmological Eras of the Universe"

by #JaneBright

arxiv.org/abs/2503.22795

The Eras Tour: Mapping the Eras of Taylor Swift to the Cosmological Eras of the Universe

This paper explores an unexpected yet compelling parallel between the evolution of the universe, as described by cosmological eras, and the artistic evolution of Taylor Swift, delineated by her distin...

arxiv.org

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Jun 8

🧵2/4 "A Swift analysis of the #ErasTour set list & implications for #astrophysics research (Taylor's version)"

by #SophieNewman & #AnaSainzdeMurieta

arxiv.org/abs/2503.24188

A Swift analysis of the Eras tour set list and implications for astrophysics research (Taylor's version)

arxiv.org

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Jun 8

🧵1/4 Am late to the party but apparently #TaylorSwift is having a direct impact on #astronomy #astrophysics #cosmology. Hilarious & surprisingly interesting. There's a #PopCulture #SciComm talk here. Hmm, how to work it in to #STLV... 🤔😂

Thoughts #Swifties??? @amyimhoff1701.bsky.social

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Jun 5

Love it! Where might I get one? I think I'll wear it on stage during one of our panels this year in Vegas.

Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · May 10

Oh how awful! So very sorry! Deepest sympathies. 💔🕊🤍

Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Apr 26

****This also likely explains that night's presentation by Danielle Martino and I entitled, "Doppler Shift, Buzzed" after which Kevin begrudgingly made us take out the most interesting parts because he said his dean wouldn't appreciate it the way he did.

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Apr 26

has the monopoly on this one.

**I write that fully acknowledging that Kevin -- and likely some of you reading this -- have long desired a "dealing with Rica" playbook.

***Ed's words, not mine, though I admit to co-opting them occasionally.

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Apr 26

profoundly sad that he won't get to enjoy the retirement he was looking forward to. If anyone deserved that, it was he. I am privileged to have known him, worked with him, learned from him. My heart breaks for his family.

Kevin Michael Lee, 09 April 1963 - 14 April 2025

*Ed Prather undoubtedly

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Apr 26

during which he convinced me that I was in fact qualified to review proposals and brought me aboard to do so.

I will miss my friend. I will miss working with him, arguing with him, killing hours in airports with him talking through our latest respective crises, whether real or perceived. I am

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Apr 26

<https://astro.unl.edu>. He earned awards, including AAPT's Halliday and Resnick award <https://www.aapt.org/aboutaapt/lee_2012hallidayresnick_pr20120404.cfm> and their Dodge Citation <https://www.aapt.org/aboutaapt/pressreleases/Dodge_2016_Lee.cfm> and served as a program officer at NSF for a while

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Apr 26

over on technology in the classroom, the innovative materials he, his longtime developer Chris Siedell, and their team at Nebraska produced are among the best in the world for animations, simulations, and other learner-centered interactives in astronomy, physics, and physical science

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Apr 26

spent most of a week sharing how to improve teaching and learning in astronomy.

For the better part of three decades (at least), Kevin and his work influenced literally thousands of educators; easily hundreds of thousands of people if you count the students of those educators. An expert many times

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Apr 26

He's smiling, laughing, and genuinely looks like he's having a good time. We did have a good time. Admittedly, it's kind of hard not to in a bar where tag-team indoor adult tricycle racing is a regular occurrence, particularly since it was filled to the gills with astronomy educators who had just

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Apr 26

wallet, which was in his back pocket, and he'd always wondered if he could do it. Danny and I shamelessly encouraged him to try. So he did. And it worked.

These photos of Kevin on an adult-sized tricycle in a bar in Boulder, Colorado, are possibly my favorite photographs of him ever.

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Apr 26

the lab door with Kevin musing aloud whether it was possible to unlock the lab by jumping and rotating midair such that one's butt swiped across the electromagnetic lock at precisely the right time and angle. We were puzzled (and a little scared) until he explained that the key card was in his

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Rica Sirbaugh French #IDIC ᐰ @ricadink.bsky.social · Apr 26

time but I especially noticed it when we were at the Monument."

Another time, at a retreat he hosted at UNL, we returned to work in a computer lab one evening after a dinner that involved copious adult beverages****. I recall some vague talk about superheroes and then we were standing in front of

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