UNH Space Seminar
Dr. Christine Gabrielse
November 23, 2022
University of New Hampshire
MAE 390 Fall 2022 Writing Requirement
Michael Saavedra 029400954
Dr. Gabrielse gave a presentation on heat transfer from Auroras. She began by giving a
brief explanation on how exactly auroras happen. To briefly summarize auroras, they happen
when the sun lets out energy that is then blocked by the magnetic field of earth. However,
through a process called reconnection some of that energy can sneak its way into the system and
follow those magnetic field lines creating auroras. She explained a little about the apparatuses
they created to further understand auroral energy flux, average energy, and conductance of
auroras. One of the main applications explained was NASA’s Themis mission which was in
place to find how exactly the events came to fruition. She then went on to explain how
equipment from Themis became useful for Artemis P1 and P2.
Overall, this presentation was quite interesting because before this I was never actually
sure about how auroras were formed. It was extremely easy to follow in part to my interest in the
topic, so I pulled a lot of information from the presentation. So much so that I went home and
watched a few old videos on YouTube of NASA explain the Themis mission in more layman’s
terms. She included slow motion videos of the concepts she was explaining so that the audience
could not only hear what she was saying but visualize it. It is also cool to have someone who was
working firsthand on the mission to present on it. Being one of the first seminars I have been to
since beginning my engineering journey, I was taken back to see equations from my physics
classes I took at Long Beach City College being used in such a massive project.
There was not too much that I did not like about this presentation besides the fact that
some of the slides were cluttered with bullet points and pictures. I think she may have received
help from stretching some of her topics into more than one slide. Looking at it from an outside
perspective as someone who may not have known what exactly was going on, I can see how it
may be a bit much for someone to digest. I understand that it was a professional slide show but I
feel that the speaker's personality should be on display. Even if she added subtle hints because at
times it felt very cookie cutter in how the slides looked.
Her presentation skills were incredibly good; she kept eye contact for most of the time
speaking. The only thing that continually came up was her use of the word “um.” I do not think it
is because she did not know what the topic was; it had to do more with pacing herself, as it was a
long presentation. It seemed like most of her audience was engaged and focused on her
presentation. She did an excellent job maintaining the focus for the hour she presented. It is quite
easy to hold attention when you are as passionate about the topic as she was. Another thing that I
noticed was good body language, body language is a very contagious energy as it goes a long
way in making it look like you want to be there.
Like I had stated earlier I believe that spreading the content out a little more so that slide
was not so cluttered looking. It makes it overwhelming for the audience to read all the points
when there is so much on the page. One thing I would have done is to give the example videos
their own page, so it was more of a focus than being lost in with bullet points. Another thing that
I would have done differently would have been to turn computer notifications off on her
computer. I cannot remember how many times her emails popped up but that was very
distracting for herself and the audience. The penultimate thing I would recommend is to have a
table of contents or timeline for the presentation. Lastly, I think that the beginning of the
presentation should have led with a stronger of an introduction to really hook people in.