Q&A with Pinchen Fan

Pinchen Fan is an astronomy and astrophysics graduate student with a dual title in astrobiology. She recently shared with us her experience organizing the 2024 Assembly of the Order of the Octopus.

Q: What is the Assembly of the Order of the Octopus?

PF: The Assembly is a conference for early career researchers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) field. In SETI we search for technological civilizations, that might indicate life beyond the Earth. The conference featured talks and poster presentations from attendees as well as ample networking opportunities.

Q: What was your role in organizing this year’s Assembly?

PF: I served as the chair of the conference and the co-chair of the Local and Science Organizing Committees. In this role, I helped secure a location and funding for the event. We were able to use the Green Bank Observatory as the location for our event and we received funding from the observatory and the Heising-Simons Foundation. Thanks to our funders, all attendees who requested travel support received it. 

Q: What was a favorite moment from the Assembly?  

PF: My favorite part was hearing all of the talks at the meeting. The talks ranged from scientific presentations to the intersections of SETI with the arts and humanities. Outside of the typical conference events, I also enjoyed the telescope tour.

Q: You also run an astrophotography Instagram; can you tell us more?

PF: I have an astrophotography camera and telescope so when it is not cloudy, and the moon is not super bright I like to take photos and process the images. This all started when I was in college and took an observational astronomy course. It’s a classic, fun class for astronomy majors where you learn how to take photos.

Q: What advice do you have to share with anyone interested in starting astrophotography?

PF: The best way to get started, in my opinion, is to take a class. Penn State offers an observational astronomy class where you will learn how to take these types of photos. You’ll also have access to the necessary photography equipment.