Announcements

Students for the Exploration and Development of Space

I recently received this in the email:

Hello all!

Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) is ready for liftoff this school year! We had an amazingly successful involvement fair last week, and we are about to jump off the launchpad!

We have a lot of new and exciting events coming up, and it all starts at our first event of the year this Thursday, August 30th at 5pm in Page Hall 240 where we will be drawing for the winner of the telescope raffle, as well as talking about the upcoming year! Our next 2 meetings are on Thursdays, September 6th and 13th at 5pm in the same room. There will be food!

I am excited to see you all there, and tell your friends to join us!

First meeting of the Astronomical Society

The Astronomical Society of Ohio State is an undergraduate organization with these goals:  1) to learn about topics in astronomy and educate others, 2) to provide support for undergraduate astronomy and astrophysics majors and minors, and 3) to create a social environment for anyone interested in astronomy.

The first meeting is this Friday Thursday!  From their recent announcement:

First Meeting Thursday, August 30th at 6:30 pm

The Astronomical Society will be having its first meeting this Thursday, August 30th. We will first be meeting at the Planetarium (5th floor of Smith Lab) at 6:30 pm, where we will talk about the club, meet each other, and make use of the solar telescopes on the roof. We will then go over to McPherson 4054 around 7:15 pm for pizza!

You can view the society on Facebook:  search for “The Astronomical Society at OSU”.

The Polaris Mentorship Program

Here’s an announcement I got about an exciting mentorship program for new STEM students in Physics and Astronomy. [The message has been lightly edited to include links and email addresses.]

Welcome to Ohio State! We’re writing to invite you to apply to Polaris, a mentorship program in the Physics and Astronomy departments. Polaris’s goal is to help get you started in your career in STEM, and to foster a diverse and inclusive environment, because we deeply believe that science is for everyone.
The program will meet once a week on Mondays from 1:50-2:45 pm (details are in an announcement and a syllabus). Most meetings will involve a discussion of a topic related to diversity and inclusion in STEM. Several meetings are devoted instead career development activities, like coding workshops and introductions to college level research. You’ll also be paired with a graduate or upper-level undergraduate mentor who can be a resource for any problems you’re having. You’ll have some time at each meeting to talk one-on-one with your mentor.
If possible, you can even gain one course credit for participating in the program! To apply, send email to osupolaris@gmail.com with your name and dot number (the number you use to log into your e-mail), and we’ll give you instructions about how to register. 
Hope to see you soon!
Polaris Leadership Team

 

Astronomy 2895

Here’s a re-post from June.  If you haven’t taken this seminar yet, please consider it.  The seminar is especially important for students now entering the major.

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.

Welcome reception for new Astros

This looks like fun!:

Subject: Meet us at the Astronomy Social! 

Dear Incoming Students, 

Between moving in and getting ready for classes, the beginning of the year can feel overwhelming. The astronomy community is here to support you, and we’d like to welcome you to Ohio State at our informal Astronomy Social. Come meet other astronomy majors, chat with grad students and professors, and enjoy some ice cream and popsicles! 

The social will take place on Friday, August 24th from 5:45-7 PM in Hitchcock 031. Please RSVP (https://tinyurl.com/OSUastrosocial) by the end of the day on Monday, August 20th.

We wish you the best of luck, and we look forward to seeing you!

Sincerely, 

The Astronomical Society 

Music inspired by astronomy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just saw this in a NASA newsletter:

A new annotated guide (part of a series devoted to resources for enjoying or teaching astronomy) features over 250 pieces of music inspired by serious astronomy, including both classical and popular music examples. YouTube links are given for the vast majority, so you can listen to them. 

 Among the pieces included is:

1) a Hubble Space Telescope cantata,

2) eight rock songs about black holes with reasonable science,

3) a supernova piano sonata,

4) a musical exploration of the Messier catalog of nebulae, clusters, and galaxies,

5) a moving song about Stephen Hawking,

6) Moon songs by the Grateful Dead, George Harrison, and the Police,

7) piano pieces “for children with small hands” named after the constellations,

8) operas about Galileo, Kepler, and Einstein, and many more (including planetary topics from Asteroids to Venus). 

You can access this guide directly by going to: http://bit.ly/astronomymusic

Any favorites of yours on list list?  Any good ones that are missing?  Tell us in the comments below.

GRE scores and graduate school

If you will be applying for grad schools in Astronomy, Physics, or any other subject, you might want to check out an article from the AstroBetter blog about which schools require scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).

There has been a lot of discussion in recent years about how GRE scores should be used, and what (if anything) they predict.  The article linked above itself has many links that can give you a lot of background.  The American Astronomical Society (AAS) recently issued this statement on the GRE:

Given the research indicating that the GRE and PGRE are poor predictors of graduate student success, that their use in graduate admissions has a particularly negative impact on underrepresented groups, and that they represent a financial burden for many students in pursuing advanced degrees in the astronomical sciences, the AAS recommends that graduate programs eliminate or make optional the GRE and PGRE as metrics of evaluation for graduate applicants. If GRE or PGRE scores are used, the AAS recommends that admissions criteria account explicitly for the known systematics in scores as a function of gender, race, and socioeconomic status, and that cutoff scores not be used to eliminate candidates from admission, scholarships/fellowships, or financial support, in accordance with ETS recommendations.

Check out the article!  It’s very important.  This is one piece of information that you can use when putting together a list of places you are applying to.

 

 

Study abroad opportunity

Here’s a course announcement I received yesterday:

Subject: Course Announcement – Scientific Roots in the UK and EU; From/on Behalf of Profs. John Cogan and Caroline Breitenberger

Biology 4798, Scientific Roots in the UK and EU, will be offered again this spring if enough students enroll. This is a great opportunity to get started in study abroad, if that is in your plans. We will be visiting London, England and Paris, France again this year along with other sites that students choose.  We will be reading about and visiting important sites in the history of scientific discovery.  This year’s focus will be discoveries that changed the world and changed paradigms.  It should be interesting and useful for any future scientist. We will be holding information sessions in the fall, but if you know you are interested, please contact us now (cogan.1@osu.edu). If you have decided to enroll, I would like to remind you that the deadline for application will be on or around Oct 31. Scholarship opportunities also exist and some have earlier deadlines.  The application is available on the website of the office of International Affairs (oia.osu.edu/education-abroad.html).

I hope you can join us! It is a blast!

Dr. John G. Cogan
Auxiliary Assistant Professor
Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry
College of Arts and Sciences

Major fellowships for grad school

Graduating this year?  Planning on applying for grad school?

Here’s a useful resource: a list of major US fellowships for graduate students.  Many of these permit senior undergrads to apply.  These are hard to get but really worth it, since they can finance several years of grad school and often include a research stipend as well.

Watch this blog for more posts directed at graduating seniors.  I plan to hold a meeting in around 1 October where we can go over typical requirements for grad school and discuss the application process.