iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

This is how my day is going and how I used AI for my JWST proposals. 🔭

Screenshot of a chatGPT screen that says "James Webb Space Telescope proposals are due today. The Space Telescope Science Institute sent out a reminder not to have any text in the margins of proposals, and I joked that it would anger the proposal gods. Can you make an image of what you think the NASA proposal gods would look like?". It returned a picture with two white bearded men and one white woman in flowing robes with a pile of papers in front of them labeled "proposals" and a tablet that says "The Proposal Gods Demand No Text in the Margins".

Reposted by Laura Lopez

AAS Committee on the Status of Minorities in Astronomy @aascsma.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

We have a new minigrants program for early-career astronomers for professional expenses (e.g., travel, grad app fees) that can't be covered through other funds. The deadline is Oct 9! The app asks professional goals, description of financial need, & an itemized list of expenses. Please share! 🔭

AAS CSMA Minigrants Program. The Committee on the Status of Minorities in Astronomy is happy to announce the 2026 minigrants program. Open to all early career stage (undergrad, grad, postbac) astronomers for any professional-related expenses. Individual grants from $400 to $1000. Apply now! Due October 9 (or until funds are all expended). QR code links to https://aas.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/228/home

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Reposted by Laura Lopez

Hakeem Jefferson @hakeemjefferson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Nikole Hannah-Jones w/ a sobering follow-up on her decision yrs ago to enroll her daughter in a poor, majority-Black public school rather than a wealthier, whiter private school. You leave heartbroken for the kids being failed by this grossly unequal system. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/m...

nytimes.com

In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own? (Gift Article)

A decade ago, I made a decision about my daughter’s education that I hoped would challenge New York City’s separate and unequal school system. Now 16, she thinks I made the wrong choice.

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I am so excited and proud of my colleagues at Ohio State who have worked for decades on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and got to see it launch on Sunday! 🔭

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Thanks to Ohio's state law SB1, OSU faculty must make a public syllabus that lists our qualifications for teaching introductory classes. LOLZ.

static.klipy.com

Cat Jumps Through Hula Hoop

Alt: A cat gracefully jumps through a hula hoop.

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Without a boost, the Swift telescope will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere by the end of this year. 😕 🔭

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

OSU astronomy will be there! 🔭🧪⚛️

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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 15/07/2026

Left: Venus, 1 March 1982 Centre: Titan, 14 January 2005 Right: Boston, 15 July 2026

Left: Venus. Centre: Titan. Right: Earth.

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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 14/07/2026

This morning in Biddeford, Maine, a 26-year-old man said goodbye to his wife and daughter and left for work. Moments later he was dead, shot in the head by ICE agents, the second man ICE has killed in six days. ICE is killing our neighbors. ICE cannot be reformed. Abolish ICE.

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Reposted by Laura Lopez

Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

"I tried to stop," said the immigrant shot in the head and bleeding to death This is the new "I can't breathe" www.pressherald.com/2026/07/13/b...

pressherald.com

Biddeford witness saw gunshot victim bleeding from head

One resident who saw the shooting said he heard the man who died say 'I tried to stop.'

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

My undergrad advisor, Herman Marshall, leads GOSoX!!! I am so happy to learn this news! 😃🔭Here are the details about GOSoX: ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021SPIE...

ui.adsabs.harvard.edu

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Colin Hamill and Roohi Dalal of @aas.org 🔭 summarize the new OMB proposed rule changes which would have a new "pre-issuance review process" by appointed officials for federal grants that ensures the grants/proposers' work is consistent with the president's policy priorities: aas.org/posts/news/2...

Screenshot of AAS summary of proposed OMB changes that reads, "OMB proposes establishing "a new pre-issuance review process," where:

“Federal agencies must ... ensure that Federal award proposals selected for funding are consistent with applicable law, Federal agency priorities, and the national interest. In doing so, Federal agency heads must designate one or more senior appointees to conduct a pre-issuance review of all discretionary awards.”

The proposed rule includes the following principles that would be applied to this pre-issuance review:

Discretionary awards must, where applicable, demonstrably advance the President’s policy priorities.
Discretionary awards must not be used to fund, promote, encourage, subsidize, or facilitate:
Racial preferences or other forms of racial discrimination by the recipient, including activities where race or intentional proxies for race will be used as a selection criterion for employment or program participation;
Denial by the recipient of the sex binary in humans or the notion that sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic;
Illegal immigration; or
Any other initiatives that compromise public safety or promote anti-American values.
All else being equal, preference for discretionary awards should be given to institutions with lower indirect cost rates."

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Astrobites @astrobites.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

As part of the BiA x Astrobites collaboration for Black Space Week, Astrobites would like to highlight those in the BiA community who will be attending AAS and presenting! To be considered, please fill out the Google form linked in the QR code. 🔭 🌌

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

The glove compartment is inaccurately named, and everybody knows it.

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Sumitra Badrinathan @sumitra.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

lots of discussion on how this will affect tech jobs, but once again this applies to academia also every professor you know on a visa will now have to leave the US for a green card, sometimes for multiple years. many will give up in the process. universities may not give them back their jobs.

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

As a Costco aficionado, I would like to share that a * on the top right of a Costco price display indicates the item will no longer be sold there once current stock runs out. The * is your secret cue to buy all of that thing if you love it/need it/want it.

Actual picture I took in Costco of the price display for laminate flooring. The price is in big black letters in the bottom right and above it is a discrete asterisk * in the top right that indicates the item will no longer be in Costco's inventory once the current stock is sold.

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

New @astrobites.bsky.social story from first year OSU astronomy grad student Serat Saad! 🔭⚛️🧪☄️

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

I wonder how many soccer players will be detained, deported, and banned from the US when they try to enter to play in the World Cup. According to the OSU Office of international Affairs, 5 OSU students have been detained & deported upon entry to US recently despite valid visas.

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Sean Carroll @seanmcarroll.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

We are now that country.

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Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

To understand what the Supreme Court is doing, you have to recognize that this is how authoritarians in Hungary, Turkey, and Venezuela consolidated power. Scholars call it autocratic legalism. The Court isn’t complicit. It’s an active participant. Roberts is following a script.

The conservative majority has learned to use anti-discrimination language as the vehicle for preserving discrimination. Justice Kavanaugh’s suggestion that remedies for racism must have an “end point” inverts the logic of the Reconstruction Amendments. They were written to empower Congress to act against racial domination, not to set an expiration date on equality. This will be the Roberts Court’s legacy: using the Constitution not to expand freedom, but to protect established hierarchies. The Court has simply found a new minority to protect—not racial or religious minorities, but a political party whose power endures through structural advantage, even when it commands fewer votes.

Where the Court has shown the greatest deference is to power itself, culminating in the decision granting Donald Trump sweeping legal immunity for “official acts”—a ruling that defies global democratic norms, where dozens of presidents and prime ministers have been prosecuted and convicted of crimes in recent years. The Court is thus working on two fronts: shielding the leader of the anti-democratic movement from accountability while simultaneously dismantling the electoral rules that allow the majority to vote his party out.

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American Astronomical Society (AAS) @aas.org · 28/04/2026

President's Statement on the Reported Dismissal of the National Science Board AAS President Dara Norman issues a statement expressing concern about the reported dismissal of the National Science Board. aas.org/posts/news/2... 🔭

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James Davenport @jradavenport.com · 28/04/2026

I feel like we’re willing to make Pluto a planet again, at least provisionally, if they’re willing to fund astrophysics. I’d say $100 billion/year is reasonable But if you keep cutting our budgets, I swear we’ll keep eliminating them. Hope you like a three planet solar system!

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Shimanti | Human Consequences @humanconsequences.com · 27/04/2026

The administration that ended DEI became the best argument for needing it.

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David Burbach 🇺🇸 @dburbach.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

HWO is meant for launch in the 2040s, 15 to 20 years from now, and is a single telescope. Design not chosen yet. "Launch part of it in 4 years, no budget change" is.. wut? I'm not following what's even suggested here.

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Dr. Jessie Christiansen @aussiastronomer.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

In 2030 we can print out the pdf of the full Mission Concept Review and launch it into space.

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Jeff Foust @jfoust.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Rep. Dean (D-PA) asks who made the decision to omit the >50 science missions proposed for cancellation from the budget request. Isaacman doesn't clearly answer, but says other missions can fill the gap.

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Science Magazine @science.org · 25/04/2026

U.S. President Donald Trump has fired all 24 members of the National Science Board, the body that oversees the National Science Foundation. scim.ag/4cxQWhl

scim.ag

Trump fires NSF's oversight board

Dismissal of the National Science Board is widely seen as latest move to erase NSF’s independence

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Great article on the lack of consequences for the ultra-wealthy, with a gift link.

Screenshot of a paragraph from the article: "Decades of research in developmental psychology have shown that moral reasoning develops through consequences—not punishment, necessarily, but experiencing the effects of your actions on others, receiving honest feedback, having to accommodate reality as it actually is rather than as you wish it to be. It’s not that the wealthy become evil; it’s that their environment stops teaching them the things that nonwealthy people are forced to learn simply by living in a world that pushes back. When you can buy your way out of any mistake, when you can fire anyone who disagrees with you, when your social circle consists entirely of people who need something from you, the basic mechanism by which humans learn that other people are real goes dark."

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 25/04/2026

The same NSB that silently went along with his destruction of the NSF for the last year. DID NOT SAVE THEM

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Breaking: Trump has fired the membership of the National Science Board, which is oversees NSF. I have confirmed separately with multiple now-former members of NSB.

democrats-science.house.gov

Ranking Member Lofgren Reacts to Latest Trump Scheme to Undermine Science | House Committee on Science, Space and Technology

The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology

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Reposted by Laura Lopez

Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 06/04/2026

⚛️🔭 Hey physics/astronomy science communicators: apply to come to @perimeterinstitute.ca for a workshop in October on how to engage the public in science! Anyone can apply, working in any kind of scicomm (video, audio, text, live performance, whatever it is you do). Check the link for more details!

events.perimeterinstitute.ca

Scicomm Collider 2026

The Scicomm Collider workshop will bring together a group of the most innovative science communicators helping to connect the public with topics in physics and astronomy for a three-day workshop aimed...

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

On April 13, OSU's senior VP of Administration and Planning, Chris Kabourek, resigned from OSU for failing to address/report inappropriate behavior by OSU President Carter. On April 16, West Virginia U announced Kabourek would be their new VP & chief financial officer. 🫠

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Kevin Anchukaitis @thirstygecko.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

'The NSF has only committed $500 million of the $8 billion it was appropriated for the fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1. The NSF will lose the billions of remaining funding if it does not spend it by Sept. 30.' thehill.com/homenews/adm...

thehill.com

National Science Foundation’s future in limbo as Trump eyes cuts

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) future is in limbo as President Trump pushes for more budget cuts and his nominee to helm the research agency awaits Senate confirmation. Since Trump’s retu…

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Reposted by Laura Lopez

American Astronomical Society (AAS) @aas.org · 20/04/2026

🔭 Chief Executive Officer Search The AAS seeks a strategic, mission-driven CEO to serve as an inspiring advocate for the discipline, the Society, and its members. Full job description: aas.org/jobregister/...

aas.org

Chief Executive Officer | American Astronomical Society

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION Founded in 1899, the American Astronomical Society (AAS) is the leading professional organization for astronomers and astrophysicists in North America, dedicated to advancing th...

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Reposted by Laura Lopez

Astrobites @astrobites.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

From Tori Bonidie and Skylar Grayson: The president’s budget requests for NASA and the NSF were released last week. We summarizes the major cuts and their impacts while providing resources to help fight back against this attack on science. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪 astrobites.org/2026/04/16/budget-request-fy2027/

astrobites.org

Back to work to save science funding! All you need to know about the FY2027 Budget Request

The president’s budget requests for NASA and the NSF were released last week. We summarizes the major cuts and their impacts while providing resources to help fight back against this attack on science...

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

This report came out today by minority staff of the House science committee on how three NASA missions were aborted due to NASA illegally following the FY26 president's budget request instead of congressionally approved budget. Very important reading. 🔭🧪 democrats-science.house.gov/staff-report...

Cover of report "Mission Aborted: how NASA illegally implemented the president's budget request without congressional approval. Minority staff report, prepared by members of the committee on science, space, and technology, us house of representatives, April 2026

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Physics bachelors programs at Bowling Green, Kent State, Ohio U, and Wright State will be eliminated! ⚛️🧪🔭

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

DESI finished its originally planned survey last night!! ..and will keep going :) I made a cake to celebrate. 🌌🔭 @desisurvey.bsky.social

A black, single-layer cake. The top is decorated with a pastel-rainbow telescope and galaxy map behind it.

A different view of the cake, showing the galaxy map spilling over the side.

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Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

I study racism for a living and can still manage to be shocked by how institutionalized it is. What do you mean they were giving tax-breaks to white supremacists celebrating treason? just a wild country

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

NASA FINESST announced, due July 14! Does not include astro or planetary science yet, but it says "NOTICE: Applicants to Astro ^ Planetary may not be able to create proposals on the day of release but please be patient while we get everything set up for you." 🔭 nspires.nasaprs.com/external/sol...

nspires.nasaprs.com

NSPIRES - Solicitations Summary

NASA and U.S. Government policies address research and personal misconduct, and provide avenues for reporting potential violations.

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

NSF Grad Research Fellowship awardees were announced, & the total awards are back up to 2,599 this year after only 1,500 (1000 initially+500 later) last year! Congrats to all awardees, including 3 OSU astro undergrads and 6 UCSC Lamat REU participants!! 🎈🎉🔭🧪 www.research.gov/grfp/Awardee...

research.gov

Federal government banner | Federal website standards

The federal government banner identifies official federal government sites. Learn how to implement the banner on your federal government site.

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Prof. Anthea Butler @antheabutler.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

It's really not difficult to trace all of the problems in America right now to racism.

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Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Making tenure count, for MSNOW I wrote about my employer, The University of Iowa, creating a center for intellectual freedom. It's a reactionary project built on decades of conservative propaganda about higher ed.

ms.now

Opinion | Beware conservatives promoting “intellectual freedom”

Victor Ray: This conservative lie about schools like mine is furthering authoritarianism

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Budget requests typically itemize major changes, but the FY27 request totally omits the names of cancelled missions (& doesn't compare to current budget or previous requests, another standard). It requires careful reading/knowledge to identify what's missing, such as 10 astrophysics missions! 🔭🧪

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David DeWitt @daviddewitt.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Commentary: Vivek Ramaswamy says Ohio has too many universities. Ohio’s public universities weren’t built to compete with each other or with private institutions. They were built to serve different regions, populations, and economic needs ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/04/09/r...

ohiocapitaljournal.com

Ramaswamy wants to consolidate Ohio’s universities. Ohio’s founders would be appalled. • Ohio Capital Journal

Vivek Ramaswamy says Ohio has too many universities. Ohio’s public universities weren’t built to compete with each other or with private institutions. They were built to serve different regions,…

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Apropros of academics losing their visas over nothing, it is great that they can gain legal victories, but I wonder how much her career, her research, her life were impacted in the >1 year that her visa was revoked.

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Dr. Laci Brock 🪐 @stellerarts.com · 08/04/2026

SPACE NUTELLA

4x4” acrylic painting of Nutella floating across the Orion capsule. It is done in a loose style a bit different from my normal work

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