Courses
I have been a teaching assistant for the following courses at UCLA:
- Astro 180 (Astrophysics Laboratory) – Fall 2021, Spring 2023, Fall 2023
- Astro 3 (Nature of the Universe) – Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Winter 2024
- Astro 127 (Stellar Atmospheres, Interiors, and Evolution) – Winter 2021
- Astro 5 (Life in the Universe) – Winter and Fall 2020
- Astro 4 (Cosmic Catastrophes) – Spring 2020
- Physics 5AL (Physics lab for life science majors) – Fall 2019
I received Outstanding Teaching Awards for the 2019-2020 and 2022-2023 academic years based on anonymous teaching evaluations from students.
UCLA Planetarium
I am a regular volunteer presenter and former logistical coordinator for the UCLA planetarium. My responsibilities as a coordinator included organizing coordinator meetings, managing maintenance logs and performing minor maintenance work on the projector, and general interfacing with the public. I have presented shows on topics including Mercury, meteor showers, historical figures in astronomy, and more.
YouTube and Twitch
Since my time as an undergraduate, I have produced astronomy content for online audiences on both YouTube and recently Twitch.tv. As an undergraduate at the University of Arizona, I produced content for the YouTube channel Active Galactic under the supervision of Prof. Chris Impey. During the Covid-19 pandemic, I was responsible for creating a YouTube channel for the UCLA planetarium where we hosted many virtual planetarium shows. Since the Fall of 2022, I have become a weekly guest on the Astronomy Arcade Twitch channel presenting on astronomy topics.
Aidan Gibbs, Ph.D. 