Please use your OSU email account for all University business. This includes anything concerning classes and enrollment, academic advising, financial matters, or records of your progress towards a degree. OSU’s email system has safeguards for the protection of confidential material, whereas other mail systems may not. Indeed, I am not supposed to reply to emails about university business from non-OSU hosts, except to tell a correspondent to please write again using the OSU system.
Professor Terndrup (that’s me!) anticipates that there will be one or more paid positions for undergraduate researchers in the Autumn 2018 semester. These will require a commitment of 10 to 20 hours per week, negotiable with the selected student(s), starting approximately the first week of classes and continuing through the end of finals week. Depending on performance and other considerations, the positions may be extendable through the end of February, 2019. The positions are contingent on the availability of funding. Salary is anticipated to be $12 / hour.
The goal of the project is to understand how reliable are ages determined from stellar rotation rates. In particular, we will focus on how the orbits of stars in the Milky Way, which are different for young and old stars, are correlated with ages derived from stellar rotation.
The selected student(s) will be part of a larger group which is attacking this problem in a variety of ways. Consequently, there will be opportunities for students to focus on statistical analysis, data visualization, mining of data from the astronomical literature, or measurement of stellar properties from observational data. Preference will be given to students who have completed Astronomy 2292.
To express interest in the position, please send a short (say, 250 words) essay describing your interest in astrophysics, your current commitments for the fall semester, and what skills you can bring to the position (programming, previous research experience, etc.). Send this by email to terndrup.1@osu.edu. While there is no deadline, preference will be given to those to respond by July 1, 2018.
The submitted essay does not constitute a formal job application. Selected students will be asked to apply formally for the position during July.
You may send inquiries about these positions any time to me using the email address above.
We are seeking Instructional Aides (IAs) for Autumn Semester 2018. IAs are expected to attend class and assist professors with copying and distributing class materials, setting up computers and A/V equipment, possibly grading, or whatever else is needed. Pay starts at $9.00 per hour.
This position is available only to Ohio State students enrolled in the Autumn semester. No experience is necessary, and this is a good opportunity for early-career students to learn a lot of the subject by attending lectures.
If you wish to apply, fill out the survey at the link below by the end of the day Friday, June 29th.
https://osu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_838OoEAYy1yVlDT
In filling out the application, please use your OSU email address.
Here’s an article I set aside some time ago for posting on this blog. It is called Advice to the Young from Pioneering Astrophysicist Ceclia Payne-Gaposhkin. Spoiler: tenacity and a sense of purpose are important factors for success in our field.
The short summary at the top of the article is particularly interesting:
Work with love, embrace the unexpected, let no one else make intellectual decisions for you, and always remain in direct touch with the fountain-head.
At the end of the article there are a number of links to very interesting reads on similar themes. Check out one of them, and give us your thoughts in the comment section. I’d love to hear your opinions about whether advice articles like these are helpful.
Check out Earth: A Global Map of Wind. This is a world map, which you can pan and zoom around, showing the current wind patterns on the earth. Lovely!
Are there good data visualizations, particularly of astronomy, that are your favorites? Put a link in the comments below. I’m collecting these things for a new course we are launching in the spring of 2019. Called Astronomy 1221, it will be an introduction to astronomy focussing on data analytics. More details on the new course in future posts, and how the course would be a benefit for Astro majors.
Hi everyone,
It’s been a long time since I posted anything on the blog. Spring semester was crazy, with both professional and personal matters that required my full attention. But now that summer is here, I’m able to get back to posting news and other items of interest to majors in Astronomy and Astrophysics.
I would like to bring your attention to our seminar Astronomy 2895. This seminar is intended for first- and second-year students, but anyone can take it. The course description reads
Prospective astronomy majors will meet weekly with different astronomy faculty to learn about current research topics, facilities, and opportunities available in the undergraduate astronomy program.
In the upcoming semester, we will have several lectures and Q/A sessions with faculty, postdocs, and senior students, who will tell us about their research into astrophysics, physics education, and many other topics. We will also have lots of discussion on study habits and survival skills for Astro majors, along with small research projects you can undertake in areas that interest you. This is a great way to see the variety of research and teaching opportunities in our department, to meet others who are excited by astrophysics, and (especially for early students) to explore ways to be successful in astronomy or any other topic.
The seminar meets Tuesday afternoons from 4:10 to 5:05 in 1005 Smith Laboratory.