Outreach

Dave Snyder

Astronomy

Presenting science to the general public can take many forms. My own efforts in that direction have involved astronomy. I belong to the amateur astronomy club known as the “University Lowbrow Astronomy” (Lowbrows for short).

The Lowbrows have had several events throughout the year, I have, along with other Lowbrows, been a participant in many of these events.

outreach

Also, there is an annual event known as “Astronomy at the Beach” which is run by a group of Southeast Michigan astronomy clubs. I was one of the participants for many of these events. I wrote these articles describing this event....

• Snyder, Dave. 2001d. Reflections, Newsletter of the University Lowbrow Astronomers. “The Fifth Annual ‘Astronomy at the Beach.’ ” September 2001, pp. 7-8. Here.
• ______. 2003b. Reflections, Newsletter of the University Lowbrow Astronomers. “The Seventh Annual ‘Astronomy at the Beach.’ ” November 2003, pp. 4-5. Here.
• ______. 2007c. Reflections, Newsletter of the University Lowbrow Astronomers. “The 11th Annual Astronomy at the Beach.” October 2007, Volume 31, Issue 10, pp. 4-6. Here.

Also, a group of four Lowbrows gave an hour-long presentation on amateur astronomy. This presentation can be seen here...

• Yasu Inugi, Charlie Nielsen, Dave Snyder, Jack Brisbin. “Amateur Astronomy: From Ann Arbor to the Universe.” Presentation given to Saturday Morning Physics at the University of Michigan, March 14, 2009. Here.

More about the Lowbrows.

Civics/History

• Democracy in the United States has been in decline over at least the past 20 years.

  This is not just my opinion. The Economist Intelligence Unit has been publishing a “democracy index” for each of 167 countries. The index is a number between 0 and 10, with zero the least democratic and ten the most democratic.

  The US scored above 8.0 through the year 2015, but dropped below 8.0 in 2016, and has steadily dropped each year since then. (A score between 8 and 10 is considered a full democracy and a score between 6 and 8 is considered a flawed democracy, this means the US has been a flawed democracy for nine years).

• During the summer of 2025, Ann Arbor 50501 set up a small table at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market to educate and inform people about the US citizenship test and the complexities of becoming a US citizen. The questions are about the history of the US, the key documents such as the Declaration of Independence, and the roles of the parts of the government.

  See this video

• Fabulous Forgotten Americans — a timeline, matching game, and collection of stories about people who changed American history but somehow got left out of the textbooks.

  See Civics Unchained

Links

• About Me
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Modified June 3, 2026